Poor treatment outcomes and its determinants among tuberculosis patients in selected health facilities in East Wollega, Western Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Although it is a preventable and treatable disease, tuberculosis remains a major medical and public health problem throughout the world. The control and elimination of tuberculosis is currently challenged by the development and spread of antituberculosis drug resistance. The resistance is often correlated to the absence of properly implemented control measures that lead to poor treatment outcomes. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to assess poor treatment outcomes and its determinants among tuberculosis patients in selected health facilities in East Wollega zone, Western Ethiopia. METHOD: A five-year retrospective cross-sectional study design was employed. Data were collected from patients’ medical record from January to March 2017. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Descriptive statistics were used to generate and summarize frequencies. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to associate the potential determinants of poor treatment outcomes. RESULTS: From 995 patients with documented treatment outcomes, 58.9% were males with a mean age of 31.9±16.3 years and 58% lived in rural areas. Majorities of cases (95.7%) were newly treated ones. Nearly half of the cases had extrapulmonary tuberculosis and 6.8% were co-infected with HIV. Nearly three-quarter of patients had completed their treatment while 17.2%, 2.9%, 4.8%, 0.4% patients were cured, defaulted, died, and failed, respectively. The overall treatment success rate was 91.9%. Being treated in Anger Gute health center (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 2.27; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18–4.38); male (AOR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.06–3.10); lived in rural areas (AOR: 1.73; 95% CI: 1.02–2.91); previously treated (AOR: 2.72; 95% CI: 1.16–6.39) and unknown HIV status (AOR: 4.56; 95% CI: 1.98–10.50) were determinants of poor treatment outcomes. CONCLUSION: The current treatment success rate was exceeded the recommended target. However, special attention and strict follow up is required for tuberculosis patients with high risk of unsuccessful treatment outcomes including male, rural resident, previously treated and unknown in HIV status patients throughout their treatment periods.