Adherence to Antituberculosis Drugs in Children and Adolescents in A Low-Endemic Setting

Abstract

Adherence to antituberculosis drug regimens is critical for the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis in pediatrics. In a large retrospective series of children and adolescents in Barcelona, Spain, completion of treatment was worse among patients treated for latent infection, compared with those treated for active tuberculosis or receiving primary chemoprophylaxis. Toxicity and cultural and language barriers were identified as predictors of nonadherence.

The Impact of Tuberculosis on the Well-Being of Adolescents and Young Adults

“…AYAs receiving treatment for TB disease are at risk for poor adherence, which encompasses both missed medication doses and loss to follow-up [46][47][48]. A few studies have analyzed programmatic data to identify predictors of poor adherence to drugsusceptible TB therapy [9,46,47,[49][50][51].…”

Impact of nursing interventions on adherence to treatment with antituberculosis drugs in children and young people: A nonrandomized controlled trial

“…We combined the use of informative leaflets about TB provided in 10 different languages, with a follow‐up telephone call 7–10 days after anti‐TB treatment was initiated. Both were nurse‐led actions that addressed the independent risk factors for nonadherence that had been identified in the retrospective phase of our study (being born abroad, the existence of a language barrier and the development of toxicity) (Guix‐Comellas et al., ). Immigration‐associated cultural and social problems have been previously identified as major risk factors for nonadherence (Abubakar et al., ; Anderson et al., ; Basterrechea, Sancho, Idígoras, & Temprano, ; de Vries et al., ; Heuvelings et al., ; Klinkenberg, Manissero, Semenza, & Verver, ; Mulder, Klinkenberg, & Manissero, ; Pang et al., ; Saunders & Evans, ; Zenner et al., ).…”

“…We performed a nonrandomized controlled trial composed of a retrospective phase (Phase 1; January 2011–December 2013), the implementation of a new nurse‐led intervention and a prospective phase lasting 21 months (Phase 2; January 2015–September 2016). The initial project (Guix‐Comellas et al., ) and the complete results of the retrospective phase (Guix‐Comellas et al., ) have been reported elsewhere. In the present study, we describe and compare the results of Phase 2 with those of Phase 1 (Figure ).…”

“…and potential toxicity that often lead to sub‐optimal adherence (Mellado Peña, Baquero‐Artigao, & Moreno‐Perez, ). The rates of adherence in LTBI and TB disease vary according to different studies, ranging from 61‐86% in the general population and from 54.4% to 86.7% in children and young people (reviewed in Guix‐Comellas et al., ).…”

Perceptions of Adolescents and Health Workers Towards Adolescents’ TB Diagnosis in Central Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Qualitative Study

“…Despite the increased risk of TB among adolescents, this group is still not considered as a priority group in TB control programs. Emerging evidence suggests that the prevailing approaches do not meet the needs of adolescents [4][5][6] Adolescents are more likely to be missed by TB systems than other age groups, according to recent TB prevalence surveys in Africa, eg a subanalysis from Uganda's prevalence survey database indicated that of the 7506 adolescent participants (15-19 years), 3.8% reported a chronic cough with only 56.0% seeking care for their chronic cough compared to adults at 62.7%. 7 Current reporting systems do not report outcomes separately for adolescents, 8 a barrier to designing targeted interventions.…”