Ensuring continuous TB treatment across Asian borders

Abstract

<sec><title>BACKGROUND</title>Mid-treatment cross-border migration of patients with TB increases the risk of treatment interruption.</sec><sec><title>OBJECTIVE</title>To establish a cross-border referral process for patients with TB in Japan, and enhance their access to health facilities and treatment outcomes.</sec><sec><title>DESIGN</title>This prospective cohort study describes and assesses the process of foreign-born patients with TB who returned to their home countries during treatment, focusing on their access to healthcare facilities and treatment outcomes.</sec><sec><title>RESULTS</title>We enrolled 135 foreign-born patients with TB, and confirmed that 112 (83.0%) were referred to and accessed healthcare facilities after returning to their home countries. Of 102 patients due to complete treatment as of July 2023, 87 (85.3%) completed their treatment. We did not identify significant differences in the treatment success rate among patient characteristics, except between the patients with confirmed access to a healthcare facility and those without (P < 0.001). We confirmed that 49/87 (56.3%) patients had completed treatment with official data.</sec><sec><title>CONCLUSION</title>The access and treatment success rates of the cross-bordered patients with TB from Japan were >80%; however, we should further improve this proportion by confirming the treatment outcomes with official data.</sec>