title: Reasons for interruption of anti-tubercular treatment as reported by patients with tuberculosis admitted in a tertiary care institute.
abstract: METHODS
  Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, Tertiary Level tuberculosis (TB) institute in Delhi, India.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the reasons for interruption of Anti-Tubercular Treatment (ATT) as reported by tuberculosis patients admitted at LRSI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective cohort-based analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 201 patients were enrolled (179 of pulmonary tuberculosis, eight of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis and fourteen of both pulmonary as well as extra-pulmonary tuberculosis); who had interrupted treatment 327 times. Maximum interruptions (72.17%) were found to occur by third month of ATT. More than one reason was often reported for discontinuation of treatment. In all, 366 responses were obtained from 201 patients, in response to reasons for treatment interruption. The rate of treatment interruption was higher in the private health sector (56.27%), as compared to DOTS (34.25%) and other sources of treatment (9.48%). Early improvement (30.05%) and high cost of treatment (16.39%) were found to be the two most common reasons, leading to treatment interruption.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early improvement and high cost of treatment were found to be the two most common reasons, leading to treatment interruption. Continuous health education should be provided to all tubercular patients emphasizing the need to continue treatment despite early improvement in symptoms.
authors: Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, Lala Ram Sarup (LRS) Institute of Tuberculosis & Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi, India.
authors: Sweta
authors: S
authors: Gupta
authors: Sanjay
authors: S
authors: Gupta
authors: Digamber
authors: D
authors: Behera
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D028761:Withholding Treatment
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents