PP-204 Male and female reproductive toxicity of antitubercular agent mediated by cytochrome P450 2E1

Abstract

Short course) program in Chennai city catering to more than 5 million population were studied to determine the patient delay and the treatment seeking pattern of TB patients and the various reasons attributed to it. Methods: A cross sectional survey among 300 TB patients was done using a pre-coded semi-quantitative questionnaire between March and June 2007. Results: Of 300 patients, 30.6% patients were diagnosed at their first point of contact with health facility. About 75.6% of patients were diagnosed by second visit, 89.3% patients were diagnosed by third visit and the remaining were diagnosed up to sixth visit. There were 326 shifts of facilities among 69.4% patients not diagnosed at first point of contact. Majority (51.2%) of shifts were attributed to patients not getting better, while 42.6% attributed the shifting to being referred by the consulting doctor. Other reasons included inability to afford treatment (3.7%) recommendations by friends to seek care in a particular facility, convenience, luck (2.5%). The mean days of patient delay in seeking care was 18.3 (median 7). Conclusions: Patient delay in seeking care in this study was less when compared to other studies. Around two thirds of te patients had been diagnosed by their second point of contact with health facility which could be due to improved networking of private health providers for referral into government system and increased awareness of patients about DOTS facilities.