Abstract
Background: Non-adherence to tuberculosis (TB) treatment might prolong disease transmission and also increases the risk of drug resistance. Various studies have been carried out to determine the predictors of non-adherence but intervention-based studies to address treatment adherence are scarce. This study intends to estimate the treatment adherence rates following delivery of patient-centered health education videos in the intervention tuberculosis unit (TU) and to compare the treatment adherence with that in the comparison TU. Methods: An interventional study was conducted in two TUs of Bengaluru urban district among all newly diagnosed TB cases on daily regimen treatment over a period of three months from November 2017 to January 2018. A patient centered health education video was developed and shown by the treatment supporters to all eligible participants consenting to participate in the intervention TU. The video was shown once at the beginning of intensive phase treatment and once in the continuation phase of treatment. A total of 100 patients, 21 from intervention TU and 79 from comparison TU formed the study sample. Patient details were obtained from their treatment cards. Data on missed doses per month per patient were also noted. Data were entered into Microsoft excel worksheet and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences. Data are expressed as frequency and percentages. Chi-square test was applied to compare groups. Results: The majority of the study participants were aged between 25 - 44 years. Equal distribution of cases was seen among males and females. Intervention TU had significantly higher number of pulmonary TB cases. Treatment adherence rates were 90.5% and 84.8% at end of intensive phase and 85% and 71.4% at end of continuation phase in the intervention and comparison TU respectively, and this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Use of mobile video-based health education showed better treatment rates and was found to improve TB treatment adherence.
Highlights
The incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) in 2016 was 10.4 million
tuberculosis unit (TU) attached to the medical college where the principal investigator was employed during the study initiation was taken as intervention TU and a neighboring TU was taken as comparison TU, which caters to populations of 215,302 and 215,304 respectively
The comparison TU had almost equal proportion of pulmonary and extra pulmonary TB cases, in contrast to intervention TU where pulmonary TB cases dominated with a significant difference (P = 0.02)
Summary
The incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) in 2016 was 10.4 million. The incidence of TB in India was around 2,800,000, accounting to about a quarter of the world’s TB cases, as per the Global TB report 2017 [1]. Previous studies from India have shown factors, such as: instances of missed doses, side effects to anti-TB drugs, no support from health staff, inadequate knowledge of TB, alcoholism, inadequate patient-provider interaction, dissatisfied with services, improvement in symptoms and lack of time, lack of awareness about the duration of treatment and importance of full treatment and illiteracy [2] [3], to be associated with lost to follow up. This study intends to estimate the treatment adherence rates following delivery of patient-centered health education videos in the intervention tuberculosis unit (TU) and to compare the treatment adherence with that in the comparison TU. A patient centered health education video was developed and shown by the treatment supporters to all eligible participants consenting to participate in the intervention TU.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
