Loss to follow-up tuberculosis treatment and associated factors among adults attending at public health facilities in Warder District, Somali Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis is a major public health problem worldwide, particularly in resource-limited countries. Loss of follow-up during treatment is one of the major obstacles in the fight against tuberculosis, which has serious implications for patients, their families, communities, and health service providers. PURPOSE: To assess the magnitude of the loss to follow-up tuberculosis treatment and associated factors among adults attending public health facilities in Warder District, Somali Regional State, eastern Ethiopia from November 02–17, 2021. METHODS: A 5-year (from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2020) retrospective study was conducted on 589 adult tuberculosis treatment records. Data were collected using a structured data extraction format. Data were analyzed using STATA version 14.0 statistical package. Variables with P < 0.05 in the multivariate logistic regression analysis were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 98 (16.6%) TB patients failed to follow up with their treatment. Age between 55 and 64 years (AOR = 4.4, 95% CI: 1.9–9.9), being male (AOR = 1.8, 95% CI: 1.1–2.9), living more than 10 km away from a public health facility (AOR = 4.9, 95% CI:2.5–9.4), and having a history of tuberculosis treatment (AOR = 2.3, 95% CI: 1.2–4.4) were associated with a higher likelihood of not following up, while having a positive initial smear result (AOR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.24–0.96) was associated with a lower probability of not following up. CONCLUSION: One out of six patients was lost to follow-up after initiating their tuberculosis treatment. Hence, improving the accessibility of public health facilities with a special focus on older adults, male patients, smear-negative patients, and retreatment cases is highly warranted among TB patients.