Tuberculosis treatment outcome and associated factors among tuberculosis patients at Wolayta Sodo Teaching and Referral Hospital, Southern Ethiopia: A retrospective study

Background: Tuberculosis is a major public health problem throughout the world particularly in resource limited countries. Measuring and reporting of TB treatment outcomes and identifying associated factors are fundamental part of TB treatment. The aim of this study was to assess TB treatment outcome and associated factors among TB patients in Wolayta Sodo Teaching and Referral Hospital, Southern Ethiopia. Design and Method: Facility based retrospective cohort study was conducted in Wolayta Sodo Teaching and Referral Hospital. All TB patients who registered during September 2014 to August 2019 and had known treatment outcome were included in the study. The data were collected using pretested structured data extraction format that included demographic, clinical and treatment outcome variables. SPSS Version 23 for windows was used for data processing. Bivariate and multivariate analysis with 95% confidence interval (CI) was employed to infer associations between the independent and dependent variables. Results: Of total 232 TB patients included in the study, 54.3% were male, 80.2% were urban residents, 65.9% were pulmonary TB (PTB). From the total 153 PTB cases, 31.5% were smear positive, 17.2% were HIV co-infected and all of them were on antiretroviral treatment. Most, 97.0% of the TB cases were newly diagnosed and all were treated as first line treatment category. The overall treatment success rate was 82.5% (28% cured 54.3% completed), 11.2% loss to follow-up, 4.7% dead and 0.9% treatment failure. The treatment success rate of HIV co-infected TB patients was 77.5%. There was no significant association between TB treatment outcome and age, sex, residence, type of TB, category of patients and HIV status. Conclusion: The treatment success rate was low (82.5%) which is below the 90% threshold defined standard with high proportion of patient’s lost to follow-up (11.2%). A higher number of transfer-out cases were recorded in this study. Thus, supervision and monitoring of DOTs implementation, improved counseling service, mechanisms for lost to follow-up patients should be strengthen. Establish efficient referral and contact tracing mechanisms for transferred-out cases and document their treatment outcomes of status is also fundamental.