Neonatal BCG vaccination and child survival in TB-exposed and TB-unexposed children: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES: To assess the association between neonatal BCG vaccination and mortality between 28 days and 3 years of age among tuberculosis (TB)-exposed and TB-unexposed children.

DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.

SETTING: Bandim Health Project runs an urban Health and Demographic Surveillance site in Guinea-Bissau with registration of mortality, vaccination status and TB cases.

PARTICIPANTS: Children entered the analysis when their vaccination card was inspected after 28 days of age and remained under surveillance to 3 years of age. Children residing in the same house as a TB case were classified as TB-exposed from 3 months prior to case registration to the end of follow-up.

METHODS: Using Cox-proportional hazards models with age as underlying time scale, we compared mortality of children with and without neonatal BCG between October 2003 and September 2017.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: HR for neonatal BCG compared with no neonatal BCG by TB-exposure status.

RESULTS: Among the 39 421 children who entered the analyses, 3022 (8%) had observation time as TB-exposed. In total, 84% of children received neonatal BCG. Children with neonatal BCG had lower mortality both in TB-exposed (adjusted HR: 0.57 (0.26 to 1.27)) and in TB-unexposed children (HR: 0.57 (95% CI 0.47 to 0.69)) than children without neonatal BCG. Children exposed to TB had higher mortality than TB-unexposed children if they had not received neonatal BCG.

CONCLUSION: Neonatal BCG vaccination was associated with lower mortality among both TB-exposed and TB-unexposed children, consistent with neonatal BCG vaccination having beneficial non-specific effects. Interventions to increase timely BCG vaccination are urgently warranted.