Trends of unsuccessful treatment outcomes and associated factors among tuberculosis patients in public hospitals of Bale Zone, Southeast Ethiopia: A 5-year retrospective study

Abstract

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a curable disease caused by the tubercle bacillus and its treatment is designed to cure, interrupt transmission, and prevent drug resistance. These aims have not yet been achieved in many regions of the world, particularly in developing countries like Ethiopia. Thus, this study was designed to assess the trends of unsuccessful treatment outcomes and associated factors among patients with TB in two public hospitals in the Bale zone, southeast Ethiopia. Methods: A 5-year retrospective data among 1281 patients with TB who registered and started treatment (from July 2013 to June 2018/19) in two selected Bale zone hospitals was retrieved. Together with descriptive statistics, binomial and multinomial logistic regression modeling were carried out using STATA version 14 to estimate the odds ratio. Results: The overall unsuccessful TB treatment outcomes in this study was 10.4% and moderately decreased over the year of treatment (from 14.1% to 8.4%, x2 ¼ 7.35, and p ¼ 0.011). Approximately 34 (7.6%) of pulmonary positive and 34 (7.4%) of pulmonary negative TB patients had experienced treatment failure and death, respectively. The level of the hospital, patients with smear-negative and extrapulmonary, transferred in, aged, and human immunodeficiency virus status were found to have a statistically significant association with unsuccessful treatment outcomes of patients with TB. Conclusion: In this study, approximately one-tenth of patients with TB had unsuccessful treatment outcomes that moderately declined over the year of treatment. Strengthening control efforts like counseling during the intensive and continual phases of treatment and scheduling home visits is recommended.

The influence of the quality of Tuberculosis services with adherence to taking Anti-tuberculosis drugs

“…The failure rate to take medication was higher in TB patients with smear-positive than in TB patients with smear-negative and extrapulmonary tuberculosis (Zenbaba et al, 2021). The factors that influence patient adherence to taking anti-tuberculosis drugs are: (1) Supporters of swallowing drugs, (2) difficulty swallowing drugs regularly, (3) perceived benefits, and (4) perceptions of patient confidence to take medication.…”

Treatment Outcomes and Associated Factors among Tuberculosis Patients from Selected Rural Eastern Cape Hospitals: An Ambidirectional Study

“…With the 76% national TSR in South Africa, the country still falls short of the standard set by WHO, the global health body [ 1 ]. The low TSR obtainable in the continent of Africa can be attributed in part to the loss of participants to follow ups and discontinued treatment due to death [ 12 ]. Though interventions such as the directly observed short-course therapy-plus (DOTS-plus) have been reported to improve TSR in MDR-TB patients, interruption of the treatment regimen still occurs in some patients.…”

“…Evaluating TB treatment outcomes is important to assess the efficacy of treatment interventions, improve systemic inadequacies, develop strategies, and make informed decisions on the efficient management of DR-TB [ 12 , 20 ]. Research on the profile and management of tuberculosis treatment outcomes and related factors in the study area is scarce.…”