Treatment outcomes and adverse drug reactions among patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis receiving all-oral, long-term regimens: First record viewing report from Pakistan

Objective: To assess the effectiveness and adverse drug reactions of all-oral regimens for patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at 10 Programmatic Management of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis sites in Punjab province of Pakistan. Patients receiving treatment for drug resistant tuberculosis from July 2019 to December 2020 with at least interim result i.e. 6th month culture conversion or final outcomes (cured, complete, lost to follow-up, failure, death) available, were included in the study. Data was extracted from electronic data management system. For the reporting and management of adverse drug events, active tuberculosis drug safety monitoring and management was implemented across all sites. All the data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: Out of 947 drug resistant tuberculosis patients included in this study, 579 (68%) of the patients had final outcomes available. Of these, 384 (67.9%) successfully completed their treatment. Out of 368 (32%) patients who had their interim results available, all had their 6th month culture negative. Combining new medications was thought to result in serious adverse outcomes such as QT prolongation. However, this study did not record any severe adverse events among patients. Conclusions: All-oral regimens formulation guided by overall treatment effectiveness resulted in treatment outcomes comparable to those obtained with traditional injectable treatment.

Children mortality and family patterns; a study in bahawalpur

Some of the mother's risk factors associated with the infant and childhood death were investigated in Bahawalpur. To have the knowledge of childhood mortality and family formation pattern in Bahawalpur. Cross sectional descriptive epidemiological study. Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Bahawalpur. From January to May 2007. 320 urban women were interviewed for pregnancy histories and their attitude towards family formation were sought. Early marriage, low education level, and high parity were associated with infant deaths. Thirty-seven percent of urban families and 28.5% of rural families had lost one or more children, usually all in infancy. Generally half of the deaths were caused by infectious diseases. Most women preferred a large family and majority of those who had lost children had replaced them. No difference were found between urban and rural women regarding attitudes towards child loss and family formation patterns. Preventive measures should be adopted to control infectious diseases to reduce children mortality