BACKGROUND: A retrospective review of all cases of tuberculosis (TB) enrolled in the directly observed treatment-short course chemotherapy (DOT-SCC) between June 2000 and June 2004 at a General Hospital in Southwestern Nigeria was undertaken. The aim is to determine treatment outcomes and ascertain the effectiveness of the programme for TB control. METHODOLOGY: Case registers of all TB patients enrolled were reviewed and data obtained analyzed by statistical methods. RESULTS: A total of 879 TB patients (467 males, 412 females; M: F ratio 1.13:1) aged 1 to 80 years (mean age 33.0 +/- 14.0 years) were enrolled. The disease was pulmonary in 98.4% and extrapulmonary in 1.6%. Seven hundred and thirty four (83.6%) patients complied with the DOTS-SCC regimen, 127 (14.4%) defaulted while 18 (2%) transferred out. The overall treatment success rate was 76.3% while 3.8% had treatment failures. Outcome was not significantly affected by types of TB lesion (P = 0.1103), patient category (P = 0.4968), age (P = 0.7198), gender (P = 0.1726) or smear positivity (P = 0.5497). CONCLUSION: Although the currently advocated DOT-SCC regimen achieved a high success rate in this locality, it fell below the 85% recommended target. There is need to step up health education campaign on compliance with therapy and aggressively follow up defaulters to forestall the emergence of multidrug resistant M. tuberculosis.
BACKGROUND: A retrospective review of all cases of tuberculosis (TB) enrolled in the directly observed treatment-short course chemotherapy (DOT-SCC) between June 2000 and June 2004 at a General Hospital in Southwestern Nigeria was undertaken. The aim is to determine treatment outcomes and ascertain the effectiveness of the programme for TB control. METHODOLOGY: Case registers of all TB patients enrolled were reviewed and data obtained analyzed by statistical methods. RESULTS: A total of 879 TB patients (467 males, 412 females; M: F ratio 1.13:1) aged 1 to 80 years (mean age 33.0 +/- 14.0 years) were enrolled. The disease was pulmonary in 98.4% and extrapulmonary in 1.6%. Seven hundred and thirty four (83.6%) patients complied with the DOTS-SCC regimen, 127 (14.4%) defaulted while 18 (2%) transferred out. The overall treatment success rate was 76.3% while 3.8% had treatment failures. Outcome was not significantly affected by types of TB lesion (P = 0.1103), patient category (P = 0.4968), age (P = 0.7198), gender (P = 0.1726) or smear positivity (P = 0.5497). CONCLUSION: Although the currently advocated DOT-SCC regimen achieved a high success rate in this locality, it fell below the 85% recommended target. There is need to step up health education campaign on compliance with therapy and aggressively follow up defaulters to forestall the emergence of multidrug resistant M. tuberculosis.