Abstract
BackgroundIn Ethiopia, Multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is one of the major public health problems that need great attention. Time to sputum culture conversion is often used as an early predictive value for the final treatment outcome. Although guidelines for MDR-TB are frequently designed, medication freely provided, and centers for treatment duly expanded, studies on time to sputum culture conversion have been very limited in Ethiopia. This study was aimed at determining the time to sputum culture conversion and the determinants among MDR-TB patients at public Hospitals of the Amhara Regional State.MethodsA retrospective follow up study was conducted between September 2010 and December 2016. Three hundred ninety two MDR-TB patients were included in the study. Parametric frailty models were fitted and Cox Snell residual was used for goodness of fit, which the Akaike’s information criteria was used for model selection. Adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was reported to show the strength of association.ResultOut of the 392 participants, sputum culture changed for 340(86.7%) during the follow up period. The median culture conversion time in this study was 65 (60–70 days). Alcohol drinking (AHR = 3.79, 95%CI = 1.65–8.68), sputum smear grading +2 (AHR = 0.39, 95%CI 0.19–0.79), smear grading +3 (AHR = 0.30, CI = 0.14–064), cavitations (AHR = 0.36, 95%CI = 0.19–0.68), and consolidation (AHR = 0.29, CI = 0.13–0.69) were the determinants of time to sputum culture conversion.ConclusionIn this study, time to sputum culture was rapid as compared to 4 months WHO recommendation. Alcohol drinking, sputum smear grading, cavitations and consolidations were found to be the determinants of time to sputum culture conversion. Therefore, providing a special attention to patients who had baseline radiological finding is recommended, high bacillary load and patients with a history of alcohol intake at baseline should be given priority.
Highlights
Tuberculosis (TB) which kills approximately 2 million globally every year has been the second leading cause of morbidity next to the human immune deficiency virus (HIV) [1, 2]
Time to sputum culture was rapid as compared to 4 months World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation
Sputum smear grading, cavitations and consolidations were found to be the determinants of time to sputum culture conversion
Summary
Tuberculosis (TB) which kills approximately 2 million globally every year has been the second leading cause of morbidity next to the human immune deficiency virus (HIV) [1, 2]. Proper treatment and enhanced case detection is needed to ensure good success rate and halt the emergency of MDR or extensively drug resistant (XDR) TB, as the risk is high among previously treated patients [4]. Knowing the time to sputum culture conversion is often used as an early predictive value for the final treatment outcome, especially in MDR-TB patients [2], and a delayed after four-month conversion was considered as a precondition for suspecting MDR-TB treatment failure [2]. In Ethiopia, Multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is one of the major public health problems that need great attention. Time to sputum culture conversion is often used as an early predictive value for the final treatment outcome.
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