Factors Influencing Tuberculosis Treatment Outcome in Sawla Tuna Kalba District

Abstract

Introduction Morbidity and mortality of tuberculosis is a rising public health issue worldwide. The Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district of the Northern Region recorded cure rate of 46.4% and completed treatment rate of 22.8%., in 2016. This culminates into a TB treatment success rate of 69.2% (Northern Regional Health Directorate Annual Report, 2016). This is below the WHO sets standards of 85%. This study aimed at assessing the factors that influence ineffective and effective TB treatment outcomes in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District to enable adequate evaluation of the success of TB control program. Method The study design was a retrospective cross sectional study, using quantitative approach. Data was collected using interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaires with 138 TB patients. Tuberculosis records were reviewed from the district TB register within the period of 2014 to 2016 using data abstraction forms. The data was analysed using Stata version 15. Association between the independent variables and the dependent variable was established using Chi-square tests of association. Logistic regression was used to estimate Odds Ratio as a measure of association. Statistical significance was checked using 95% confidence interval and p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results Out of the 138 TB patients, 34.1% were 54 years and above, 75.7% were males and 79.7% were married and 79.7% were employed. Treatment outcome for cured and completed treatment were 44.9% and 55.1% respectively. In the final multiple logistic regression, age (AOR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.12-0.80, p=0.015), employment during treatment (AOR: 4.73, 95% CI: 1.20-40.34, p= 0.030) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh and disease classification (AOR: 0.01, 95% CI: 0.00-0.03, p<0.001), were identified as the most significant factors for TB treatment outcomes. Conclusions and Recommendations: It can be concluded from this study that age of TB patient, employment during treatment disease classification, education on the side effect of TB drugs are the significant predictors of TB treatment outcomes in the Sawla-Tuna-kalba District. It is recommended that, The District Health directorate must ensure the scale up of TB case detection efforts. This will ensure all smear positive cases are detected early through a strengthened contact tracing approach, case searches and TB screening campaigns in high risk areas.