Treatment outcome of tuberculosis patients under directly observed treatment short-course and factors affecting the outcome in tertiary care hospital

ABSTRACT

Background: Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) based on Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) strategy has been made available in entire country by March 2006. Given high rate of unfavourable treatment outcomes reported in some provinces, there is a need to analyse outcomes and identify possible trends and associated risk factors that can help for improvement in RNTCP.Methods: After getting Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) approval, total of 76 cases diagnosed and treated for Tuberculosis (TB) under Category I of RNTCP were recruited from January to March 2017. All patients were followed up for six months from date of initiating the treatment. The data was obtained from TB treatment register, by patient visit and regular follow-up. The information collected include age and gender of patient, category of treatment, date of treatment initiation, initial sputum conversion, outcome of treatment and date of outcome.Results: Out of total 76 patients, 64 (84.21%) were cured, 5 (6.57%) were lost to follow-up, 4 (5.26%) were failed to treat, 1 (1.32%) patient was died, 1 (1.32%) patient had completed treatment but status was unknown and 1 (1.32%) patient was not evaluated because of transfer. Overall treatment outcome of TB patients under DOTS was matching goal of RNTCP with cure rate of 84.21%.Conclusions: Efforts by DOT providers, adequate patient education, motivating ones in need can bring positive outcomes. In this region, DOTS center is at good working condition in terms of functionality as well as ethically. Gender, age group, residence and initial culture colony did not significantly affect treatment outcome.