The impact of social conditions on patient adherence to pulmonary tuberculosis treatment.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the main concerns in global health. One of the main threats to treatment success is patient non-adherence to anti-tuberculosis treatment.



To identify the relation between social conditions and treatment adherence in a prospective cohort setting in an intermediate TB burden country.



To identify associations between poor adherence and social conditions, including educational level, type of residence and occupation, we constructed hierarchical logistic regression models.



A total of 551 participants were included in the study. Low educational levels, poor housing and occupations in the construction and manufacturing industries and service sectors were associated with poor adherence; this association was likely to be differentiated by previous history of anti-tuberculosis treatment.



Policy making should focus on improving the social conditions of patients by working towards better housing conditions and providing health promoting working conditions to enable treatment adherence.
Clinical Research Section, International Tuberculosis Research Center, Changwon, Department of Research and Development, The Korean Institute of Tuberculosis, Cheongju, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
H
H
Choi
BK21PLUS Program in Embodiment: Health-Society Interaction, Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; School of Health Policy & Management, College of Health Science, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
H
H
Chung
Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
C
C
Muntaner
Clinical Research Section, International Tuberculosis Research Center, Changwon, Republic of Korea.
M
M
Lee
Clinical Research Section, International Tuberculosis Research Center, Changwon, Republic of Korea.
Y
Y
Kim
Tuberculosis Research Section, Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Disease, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
C E
CE
Barry
Clinical Research Section, International Tuberculosis Research Center, Changwon, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
S-N
SN
Cho
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011446:Prospective Studies; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012307:Risk Factors; D012924:Social Conditions; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
D000995:Antitubercular Agents