Soultana Kostanta, Katerina Manika, Eleni Papadaki, Maria Kipourou, Martha Lada, Maria Papaioannou, Konstantinos Zarogoulidis, Ioannis Kioumis
Background: Despite the effectiveness of the standard regimen in tuberculosis treatment, in clinical practice modification and extension of the regimen is often required due to mycobacterial resistance and drug side effects.
Objective: Assessment of outcome and average duration of treatment of patients with tuberculosis in the out-patient clinic for tuberculosis, Pulmonary Clinic, AUTH.
Methods: A total of 101 patients with tuberculosis who were followed in the out-patient clinic for tuberculosis from June 2011 until September 2014 were included in the study. Treatment regimen, duration and outcome were recorded.
Results: Data on 70 men and 31 women with mean age ± SD of 48.9±19.4 years were analyzed. Regarding outcome, 33 patients were cured (32.7%), 37 (36.5%) are still under treatment, six patients died (three of them due to TB (3.0%) and three due to other reasons (3.0%), nine were transferred out (8.9%), 15 (14.9%) defaulted and one failed treatment (1.0%). Out of the 33 patients with successful treatment, 25 (75.76%) received first-line treatment with average duration 10.75 months and whereas in eight (24.24%) a modification of treatment was needed resulting in treatment duration of 18.37 months. The main reasons for prolongation of treatment beyond nine months were extended disease, bad adherence, resistance to first-line drugs and significant side-effects.
Conclusions: Based on these data, treatment of tuberculosis is more prolonged and complicated than initially anticipated. The rate of default was high and needs to be addressed in the context of public health services. In addition death from tuberculosis still remains a reality.
