Treatment outcome and associated factors among adult patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in selected health centers in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION: The success rate of pulmonary tuberculosis in developing countries is different than expected despite effective treatment. We evaluated treatment outcomes and associated factors of pulmonary tuberculosis patients. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was employed among randomly selected health centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Patient records of adult pulmonary tuberculosis patients treated between January 1st, 2017, and December 31st, 2019 were reviewed. Convenient sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), version 24-computer software was used for analysis. Participants’ characteristics were descriptively described, and Bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to determine independent variables related to clinical outcomes. The significance level was determined at p-value < 0.05 and a 95% confidence level. RESULTS: Six hundred thirty-six patient records with a mean age of 37.49± 2.99 were reviewed. The overall treatment success rate was 84.9%. Absence of comorbid illness [AOR = 0.444; 95% CI:0.219–0.900], non-smoking [AOR = 0.35; 95% CI:0.194–0.645], and being HIV negative [AOR = 0.22; 95% CI: 0.106–0.460] were associated with successful treatment outcomes, whereas, not having treatment supporter [AOR = 15.68; 95% CI: 8.11–30.33] was associated with unsuccessful treatment outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment success in this study was below the average target set by WHO. HIV positivity, co-morbidities, and smoking increased risk of treatment failure. Patient education about cessation may improve treatment success.