Awareness about tuberculosis in community and compliance for D.O.T.S in patients

ABSTRACT

To assess awareness about Tuberclosis in community and compliance for DOTS [directly observed treatment short-course] in patients. It is Descriptive cross sectional study was conducted at two places, i.e., Arafat Town and Sindh Government Hospital, Karachi. A sample of 175 subjects were selected, out of which 75 subjects were selected from Arafat town [community] while 100 subjects [patients] were selected from Sindh Government Hospital, Karachi. The survey was conducted by interview comprising of questions related to personal information regarding Tuberculosis, its symptoms, different mechanisms of its spread, diagnosis and its treatment by DOTS, knowledge of DOTS and satisfaction of patients receiving DOTS. The data collected was analyzed by using SPSS version 11. Out of 75 study subjects from community 43.5% of subjects were uneducated or had only religious knowledge, 65% did not know Tuberculosis, 20% did not have any knowledge regarding the symptoms of Tuberculosis, 22% of subjects were unaware of the preventive measure against TB. In the hospital setup, 99% of patients were satisfied from DOTS and the compliance rates was 88%.Most of the subjects were unaware of Tuberculosis that seems to be due to their illiteracy and those who knew had got the knowledge from media but the majority of the patients who were on DOTS were found to be satisfied