PREDICTORS OF TREATMENT INTERRUPTION IN PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, mainly mycobacterium tuberculosis. The World Health Organization declared TB a global health emergency in 1993.2 This is a cross sectional descriptive study. Objective: To identify factors predicting treatment interruption in pulmonary tuberculosis patients under DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short Course) strategy in District Lahore. It is conducted on 421 pulmonary tuberculosis patients under DOTS, in district Lahore, Pakistan in 2006 – 07. Results: At the end of the treatment period, the treatment interrupters were 31 / 421 (7.4%). Among them 25 / 421 (5.9%) were defaulters, while 6 / 421 (1.4%) were non-compliers. Analysis showed a significantly increased risk of treatment interruption among those who need to travel in order to get medicine (p 0.0001), those who need to travel a distance of more than 30 minutes walk to get medicine (p 0.0001), those who occasionally need to buy medicine (p = 0.024) and those patients who were directly observed by health care provider (p 0.0001). Conclusion: The issue of treatment interruption in tuberculosis patients and the factors identified in the study, need to be addressed, so the compliance can be improved.