A study on factors influencing treatment outcome of failure patients receiving DOTS in a district of West Bengal.

ABSTRACT

Failure to primary treatment under RNTCP can be an enormous setback for the society. A record based retrospective cohort analysis of 212 patients failing primary treatment under Cat I or Cat III was done in Burdwan district of West Bengal to find the treatment outcome after re-registration under Cat II and its possible influencing factors. Retreatment of failed patients resulted in 24.06% chronicity. Important factors influencing the outcome of being failure were found to be Adolescence (AOR = 2.350; C.I. 0.660-8.281), Urban residence (AOR = 1.878; C.I. 0.705-5.002), primary categorization in Cat I versus Cat III (AOR = 5.036; C.I. 0.897-28.281), higher bacillary load at the beginning of retreatment regimen (AOR = 5.437; C.I. 0.787-37.562) and more than three weeks delay in instituting Cat II treatment (AOR = 3.550; C.I. 0.941- 13.393). 17.35% of such failed patients were still defaulters. Hence such factors may be looked into for more efficient control of Tuberculosis in our country.