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| LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
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| Year : 2022 | Volume
: 20
| Issue : 3 | Page : 209 |
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Monitoring treatment outcomes among tuberculosis patients: Implications for practice and policy
Anugraha John1, Hari Teja Avirneni2, Sinthu Sarathamani Swaminathan3
1 Department of Community Medicine, Sri Lalithambigai Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
2 Department of Community Medicine, NRI Institute of Medical Sciences, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India
3 Department of Community Medicine, Trichy SRM Medical College and Hospital and Research Centre, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India
| Date of Submission | 25-Apr-2022 |
| Date of Decision | 04-May-2022 |
| Date of Acceptance | 16-May-2022 |
| Date of Web Publication | 01-Aug-2022 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Anugraha John
Department of Community Medicine, Sri Lalithambigai Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/cmi.cmi_45_22
How to cite this article:
John A, Avirneni HT, Swaminathan SS. Monitoring treatment outcomes among tuberculosis patients: Implications for practice and policy. Curr Med Issues 2022;20:209 |
How to cite this URL:
John A, Avirneni HT, Swaminathan SS. Monitoring treatment outcomes among tuberculosis patients: Implications for practice and policy. Curr Med Issues [serial online] 2022 [cited 2022 Aug 15];20:209. Available from: https://www.cmijournal.org/text.asp?2022/20/3/209/352978 |
Sir,
Factors contributing to poor treatment outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) are likely to vary depending on the local settings of populations. The treatment outcomes are mainly influenced by sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors, nutrition, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), and strategies for TB management including Directly Observed Treatment Short-course.[1] Patients in the younger age group, those in the other age groups who are supervised by health workers, living nearby to the health centres, having higher income and receiving home visit services from health workers are more likely to have higher treatment success rates.[2] Furthermore, older age, habitation in rural areas, lack of contact person, sputum smear-negative treatment category at the initiation of treatment, smear-positive sputum test result in the 2nd month after initiation of the treatment, retreatment cases, and HIV-positive status may lead to poor treatment success rates.[3] With efforts to end TB in India through the implementation of the National Strategic Plan (2017–2025) under the National TB Elimination Programme in place, facilitating these goals and evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies are needed.[4] Hence, it becomes highly essential to accurately record and report the treatment outcomes of TB patients. Treatment outcomes, as measured by a standardized method, are key indicators of national TB program effectiveness.[5] In addition to monitoring treatment outcomes, improving treatment success rates is important and it mainly depends on identifying vulnerable populations and the risk factors for poor treatment outcomes. This information becomes critical for policymakers in terms of resource planning, prioritization, and distribution. Furthermore, equally important is the role of public and private practitioners and researchers in monitoring the treatment outcomes and generating the required information in facilitating and advocating for effective policy-driven interventions, leading to good treatment outcomes among TB patients, thereby contributing to the national goals.
Financial support and sponsorship
The study was supported by Research grant provided by Puducherry state RNTCP OR Committee.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Ali MK, Karanja S, Karama M. Factors associated with tuberculosis treatment outcomes among tuberculosis patients attending tuberculosis treatment centres in 2016-2017 in Mogadishu, Somalia. Pan Afr Med J 2017;28:197.  |
| 2. | Xu L, Gai R, Wang X, Liu Z, Cheng J, Zhou C, et al. Socio-economic factors affecting the success of tuberculosis treatment in six counties of Shandong Province, China. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2010;14:440-6. |
| 3. | Lepcha LS, Jain AK, Nandy P. Sociodemographic profile and treatment outcome of tuberculosis patients registered under directly observed treatment short course in East Sikkim with reference to defaulters. J Med Soc 2017;31:147-51. [Full text] |
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| 5. | Mok J, An D, Kim S, Lee M, Kim C, Son H. Treatment outcomes and factors affecting treatment outcomes of new patients with tuberculosis in Busan, South Korea: A retrospective study of a citywide registry, 2014-2015. BMC Infect Dis 2018;18:655. |
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