Determinants of Treatment Outcomes of Public Mix Tuberculosis Control Programme in South-Eastern Nigeria

Background: No reliable method exist to predict which patient will complete Tuberculosis (TB) treatment, however, failure to complete treatment has been associated with several factors including alcohol abuse, drug abuse, homelessness, HIV/AIDS infection , non-compliance to anti-tuberculosis treatment due to a poor correlation between patient and programme needs and priorities, relatively long period of treatment, the need for multiple drugs and socio-economic factors. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study design used to analyze secondary data set (2007-2010) of patients accessing determinants of Tuberculosis – Directly Observed Therapy Short Course (TB-DOTS) outcomes in two comparable public facilities (Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, NAUTH and Department of Health Services Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Unit Nnewi North Local Government Area [L.G.A.] Secretariat, DHSTLCU) in Nnewi North L.G.A., Anambra State. Multivariate Logistic Regression was used to analyze for determinants. Results: Patients mean age 35.0±3.3. There were 69% (1000 patients) and 57% (250 patients) males at NAUTH and DHSTLCU respectively. In 2007-2010 the determinants of treatment outcome at NAUTH were year, category of treatment and sex of patient for defaulter treatment rate outcome; year and category of treatment for transferred-out rate outcome; category of treatment for failure rate outcome; year and HIV status of patients for death rate outcome; year and category of treatment for success rate outcome. In DHSTBLU, the determinants were year and category of treatment for cured rate outcome; only year for transferred-out rate outcome; only age for treatment failure rate outcome. Conclusion s : Determinants of treatment outcomes at NAUTH were year, category of treatment, sex and HIV status of patient while at DHSTLCU, the determinants were year, category of treatment and age. Therefore, its recommended, further research to focus on the determinants for disaggregated respective years, identify centre-specific factors associated with poor treatment outcome, emphasise the place of treatment success rate and analyse primary data set for Tuberculosis epidemiological profiling and comprehensiveness.