Determinants of tuberculosis treatment outcome under directly observed treatment short courses in Adama City, Ethiopia

Background

Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death among infectious agents, ranking above HIV/AIDS. Though much effort has been done, Ethiopia remained one of those countries which share the greatest burden of TB. Evaluating the TB treatment outcome is one method of TB control measures. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to assess TB treatment outcome and its determinants under directly observed treatment short courses in Adama City, Central Ethiopia.

Method

An institutional based cross sectional study was conducted in all public and private health facilities of Adama city from March 1^st 2016 to December 31^st, 2016. The data were entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 21.0 statistical software. The results were presented using descriptive statistics. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression model was used to evaluate the potential determinants of unsuccessful treatment outcome.

Results

Among 281 patients evaluated, 90(32%) were cured, 137(48.8%) have completed the treatment, 4(1.4%) were treatment failure, 36(12.8%) were lost to follow up, and 14 (5%) died. The overall treatment success rate was 80.8%. Age 15–24 (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 4.97; 95% Confidence interval (CI): 1.13–21.90), distance less than 5 kilometers from treatment center (AOR: 3.1; 95% CI: 1.42–6.77), being seronegative for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (AOR: 20.38; 95% CI: 7.80–53.24) were associated with successful TB treatment outcome.

Conclusion

The treatment outcome of all forms tuberculosis patients in Adama city was unsatisfactory when referred with the national pooled estimate of 86% and WHO 2030 international target of ≥90%. Thus, enhancing client supervision, treatment monitoring; and working on provision TB treatment services at nearby health facilities should be a priority concern to improve the success rate of treatment outcome. Further studies are also recommended to explore important factors which were not examined by current study.