title: Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program regimens with and without directly observed treatment, short-course: A comparative study of therapeutic cure rate and adverse reactions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the therapeutic cure rate and adverse reactions in the regimens of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) with directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) and without DOTS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty patients in the DOTS regimen and 50 patients in the non-DOTS regimen were enrolled in the study. All the participants were asked to come regularly for 3 consecutive days for sputum collection, and the sputum samples were examined for acid-fast bacilli. If tuberculosis (TB) was confirmed, the disease status was confirmed through a chest X-ray (PA view). The participants were monitored for adverse events arising from the use of anti-TB drugs for the next 6 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The TB cure rates for RNTCP with DOTS and RNTCP with non-DOTS were 80% and 66%, respectively. The DOTS therapy had a better cure rate for radiologically positive, sputum-positive cases compared with the non-DOTS regimen group. The non-DOTS treatment regimen had significantly increased numbers of adverse events in the hepatic and hematinic systems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The DOTS regimen has higher cure rates and a lower incidence of adverse reactions compared with the non-DOTS regimen.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacology, Rajah Muthiah Medical College, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Rengaraj
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sivaraj
authors.affiliation: Division of Anatomy, Rajah Muthiah Medical College, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Sivaraj
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Umarani
authors.affiliation: Pharmacology Unit, Faculty of Pharmacy, Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) University, Bedong, Kedah, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Subramani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parasuraman
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacology, Rajah Muthiah Medical College, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Pyapti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Muralidhar
keywords: Adverse drug reaction; Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program; directly observed treatment; short-course; tuberculosis