Predictors of Treatment Outcome for Retreatment Pulmonary Tuberculosis Cases among Tribal People of an Eastern India District: A Prospective Cohort Study

Objective. The study was conducted to assess the treatment outcome of different category retreatment cases with the aim of finding out the important predictors of unfavorable outcomes. Methodology. This hospital based prospective cohort study was conducted in three tuberculosis units (TUs) of west Midnapore (a district of Eastern India), covering mostly the tribal populated areas. Patients who were registered for Category II antituberculosis treatment between 1st quarter of 2013 (Jan to Mar) and 4th quarter of 2013 (Oct to Dec) were considered as our study cohort and they were followed up till December 2014. The study was started with 177 patients but ultimately ended with 165 patients. Results. Unfavorable outcome was observed among 24.8% patients. Among them mostly 51.2% were defaulter, 22% were failure case, and 26.8% died during treatment. Patients, who were minority by religion, were found 4 times more vulnerable for unfavorable outcome. Unfavorable outcome was found 7 times more common among retreatment TB cases who remain sputum positive after completion of initiation phase of Category II treatment. Conclusion. Programmatic approach should be specified to address the minority by religion population and to reduce the load of sputum positive cases after completion of initiation phase treatment by tracking them.