Better patient instruction for sputum sampling can improve microscopic tuberculosis diagnosis.
To examine the effect of patient instruction for provision of sputum samples, we performed a randomised controlled trial involving 174 patients with suspected tuberculosis (TB) in an urban TB clinic in Indonesia. TB was diagnosed in 50.6% of patients who received additional counselling by paramedics compared with 35.5% of patients in the control group following routine diagnostic procedure, corresponding to a 15.1% higher detection rate (95%CI 2.9-27.4). Significant differences were also found for sputum volume, consistency, positivity rate and density of acid-fast bacilli. Simple interventions such as these may increase TB case detection in Indonesia and elsewhere.
Alisjahbana
B
B
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Padjadjaran University, Bandung, Indonesia.
van Crevel
R
R
Danusantoso
H
H
Gartinah
T
T
Soemantri
E S
ES
Nelwan
R H H
RH
van der Meer
J W M
JW
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013048:Specimen Handling; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis*