Status of smear-positive TB patients at 2-3 years after initiation of treatment under a DOTS programme.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the status of cases 2-3 years after the initiation of treatment under DOTS.


METHODS
After DOTS implementation in Tiruvallur district, south India, we followed up a cohort of smear-positive TB patients registered during 2002-03 after initiation of treatment.


RESULTS
The overall mortality rate was 15.0% and among the remaining 18.6% had active disease. In multivariate analysis, a higher mortality rate was independently associated with age, sex, occupation, treatment outcome and initial body weight of patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The mortality and morbidity rates are still high during follow-up and needs to be curtailed by addressing these issues effectively in TB control programme.
Sadacharam
K
K
Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai.
Gopi
P G
PG
Chandrasekaran
V
V
Eusuff
S I
SI
Subramani
R
R
Santha
T
T
Narayanan
P R
PR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D023801:Directly Observed Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*