Psychoactive substance use in patients with tuberculosis, treatment adherence, Brief Interventions

Abstract

Background Psychoactive substance use associated with tuberculosis therapy is an urgent public health issue in the contemporary world. Objective To characterize the profile and psychoactive substance use of patients undergoing tuberculosis treatment and to analyze the association between health-related variables, consumption, and treatment adherence, from the perspective of Brief Interventions. Methodology Descriptive transversal epidemiological study, carried out in primary care units, with 114 patients undergoing tuberculosis treatment, from June 2016 to July 2017. The Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) were used. Results Smokers who drank alcohol (p = 0.058) and those who reported not having chronic diseases (p = 0.024) had a need to receive brief interventions. Cannabis use was more frequent among smokers (p = 0.009). With regard to cocaine use, a significant association was found between smoking and the number of chronic diseases. In this sample, 40% of smokers, 21.1% of alcohol drinkers, 10.5% of cannabis users, and 13.7% of cocaine/crack users adhered to treatment. Conclusions These results demonstrated the vulnerability of this population to psychoactive substance use based on treatment adherence and the importance of using Brief Interventions for monitoring, especially in primary care settings. Key messages The study showed an opportunity to apply the diagnostic strategy of brief intervention in this population in primary care. It showed an impact on the change in behavior of these patients, in view of greater adherence to treatment and improvement in quality of life.

Identifying Hotspots of People Diagnosed of Tuberculosis with Addiction to Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs through a Geospatial Intelligence Application in Communities from Southern Brazil

“…The use of alcohol/alcoholism is a determinant with a strong association with the development of TB, a condition identified in this study, among 45.78% of the population with TB. Studies developed in Singapore [20], Germany [21], Ethiopia [22], India [23], and Brazil [6,10,24] presented the same specificities, alcoholism being a risk factor for TB and responsible for worse treatment outcomes.…”

“…Alcohol consumption is a negative factor for the prognosis of TB since it triggers difficulty in treatment adherence, interruptions in the use of medicines, and deaths [9]. When an individual does not adhere to the treatment of TB, this contributes significantly to the increase in the number of new cases in geographical space [24]. Therefore, the consumption of alcohol and other drugs can aggravate the non-adherence to treatment, the transmission of the disease, and cause death.…”

“…Among the cases of TB in the state, 22.13% were users of other drugs. Knowing the direct relationship between TB and social determinants of health, it is known that the population using illicit and injectable drugs has a greater vulnerability to TB infection and a worse outcome in treatment, and often these users find an environment of marginalization in the streets and lack access to health services [24].…”

“…The originality of this study is allowing health managers and workers to direct specific actions to the population who is addicted to alcohol and other drugs, as well as knowing the epidemiological scenario and developing strategies to promote a reduction in the TB transmission cycle and development of new cases [37], as well as treatment abandonment, death, and multidrug-resistant TB [24].…”