Abstract
ObjectiveMonitoring tuberculosis treatment outcomes and understanding the reasons for unsuccessful treatment are important indicators for evaluating the performance of the national tuberculosis control program. The aim of this study was to evaluate the treatment outcomes among pulmonary TB (PTB) patients and identify the predictors of unsuccessful treatment outcome.ResultsTreatment success rate of 67.8% among new and retreatment PTB patients and 69% in new smear positive PTB patients was observed. Close to 21% (20.9%) and 15.7% PTB and new smear positive PTB patients had loss to follow-up during treatment. Overall, older patients (AOR 1.02; 95% CI 1.01–1.0), smokers (AOR 1.65; 95% CI 1.02–2.67) and retreatment cases of TB (AOR 2.34; 95% CI 1.43–3.84) were at greater risk of having unsuccessful treatment outcomes. Moreover, sputum positivity at 2 months (AOR 13.78; 95% CI 5.09–37.26) was a significant predictor of poor treatment outcomes in new smear positive PTB patients. The treatment success rate among PTB patients was lower than the recommended 85% success rate. TB patients at higher risk of unsuccessful treatment outcomes should be provided with enhanced supervision and treatment monitoring to improve the success rate of TB management in Pakistan.
Highlights
Despite the fact that tuberculosis (TB) is a preventable disease, it still ranks among the top ten causes of death worldwide [1]
690 (71.2%) pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients were included in the study
Treatment success in new smear positive PTB patients was less than the World Health Organization (WHO) successful target rate of 85%
Summary
Despite the fact that tuberculosis (TB) is a preventable disease, it still ranks among the top ten causes of death worldwide [1]. Million people were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and 1.7 million people died (including .4 million deaths among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive people) due to TB [2]. According to 2016 estimates, 56% of people suffering from TB were living in five countries (in descending order); India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan [1]. Among all notified cases in 2016, 80% were pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) cases, and 4% cases had known HIV infection [1]. Trends in TB mortality rates in Pakistan from 2012 to 2016 demonstrate a substantial decline in associated deaths ranging from 34 to 23 cases per 100,000 population [1, 4–7], TB remains a significant killer in this country
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