Status of smear-positive TB patients at 2-3 years after initiation of treatment under a DOTS programme.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the status of cases 2-3 years after the initiation of treatment under DOTS. SETTING: After DOTS implementation in Tiruvallur district, south India, we followed up a cohort of smear-positive TB patients registered during 2002-03 after initiation of treatment. RESULTS: The overall mortality rate was 15.0% and among the remaining 18.6% had active disease. In multivariate analysis, a higher mortality rate was independently associated with age, sex, occupation, treatment outcome and initial body weight of patients. CONCLUSION: The mortality and morbidity rates are still high during follow-up and needs to be curtailed by addressing these issues effectively in TB control programme.