Adherence to Anti-Tuberculosis Treatment Among Pediatric Patients at Nekemte Specialized Hospital, Western Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Non-adherence to tuberculosis treatment is the most challenging and hindering factor for successful tuberculosis therapy. The long duration of tuberculosis treatment and the undesirable effects of anti-tuberculosis drugs result in non-adherence to treatment among pediatric patients. Hence, this study was aimed to evaluate pediatrics adherence status among tuberculosis pediatric patients on anti-tuberculosis treatment at Nekemte Specialized Hospital. METHODS: A health facility-based cross-sectional study design was used to recruit pediatric TB patients who were receiving their treatment between February 15 and March 15, 2019. Adherence to tuberculosis therapy was evaluated using data obtained from face-to-face interviews of their respective caregivers. The collected data were entered into EPI-manager 4.0.2 software and analyzed using SPSS version 24. Logistic regression was used to analyze the variables and variables with p-value <0.05 had a statistically significant association with the adherence to anti TB treatment. RESULTS: Among 202 participants involved in the study, 120 (59.4%) of them were males and 119 (58.9%) were in the age category of 11–15 years. A total of 166 (82.2%) of the patients had extra-pulmonary tuberculosis and 174 (86.1%) of them were in the intensive phase. Of the pediatric tuberculosis patients, 48 (73.3%) of them have adhered to the treatment regimen. Female gender [AOR: 3.3, 95% CI: 1.52–7.2], younger age (0–5 years) [AOR: 5.96 95% CI: 1.81–19.6], living in urban area [AOR: 3.73, 95% CI: 1.67–8.36], and patients who did not experience side effect [AOR: 2.87, 95% CI: 1.41–5.81] were predictors of good adherence to tuberculosis treatment up on multivariable logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSION: The level of adherence observed in our study area was low. Age, sex, residence, and side effect experience showed an association with tuberculosis treatment adherence. Therefore, health care providers should educate all patients with tuberculosis before the initiation of anti-tuberculosis treatment.