Study of relapse and failure cases of CAT I retreated with CAT II under RNTCP--an eleven year follow up.
OBJECTIVE
To analyse the treatment outcome of Cat I smear positive relapse and failure cases and their fate when treated with Cat II regimen under RNTCP.


METHODS
All Cat I smear positive relapse and failure TB patients treated with Category II regimen from 1994 to 2005 in a chest clinic of Delhi were analysed in this retrospective study. The re-treatment outcome data for relapse and failure cases of Cat I when treated with Cat II regimen was reviewed.


RESULTS
The study population included 5576 registered as Cat I sputum positive cases in Gulabi Bagh chest clinic from 1994 to 2005. A total of 190 (3.4%) failed on Cat I regimen. Further out of 4905 (87.9%) successfully treated Cat I patients, 442 (9%) presented as relapses. The treatment success rate for relapse and failure cases of Cat I when subsequently treated with Cat II regimen were 76.4% and 48.8% respectively, with a significantly higher failure rate (27.6%) among Cat I failures subsequently treated with Cat II regimen.


CONCLUSIONS
The failure cases of Cat I subsequently treated with Cat II were observed to have a significantly lower success rates (p < 0.05) as compared to relapse cases. The need for reappraisal of Cat II re-treatment regimen for failure cases among Cat I is suggested.
Mehra
R K
RK
Chest Clinic, Gulabi Bagh, Delhi.
Dhingra
V K
VK
Nish
Aggarwal
A
Vashist
R P
RP
D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D012008:Recurrence; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D017211:Treatment Failure; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*