Survival and health status of DOTS tuberculosis patients in rural Lao PDR
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Contact tracing of tuberculosis (TB) patients is rarely performed in low-income countries. Our objective was to assess the outcome of and compliance with directly observed treatment (DOTS) of TB patients over a 3 year period in rural...
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| Format: | Article |
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BMC
2010-09-01
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| Series: | BMC Infectious Diseases |
| Online Access: | http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/10/265 |
| _version_ | 1818752518062080000 |
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| author | Barennes Hubert Keophithoun Thongdam Nguyen Tuan H Strobel Michel Odermatt Peter |
| author_facet | Barennes Hubert Keophithoun Thongdam Nguyen Tuan H Strobel Michel Odermatt Peter |
| author_sort | Barennes Hubert |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Contact tracing of tuberculosis (TB) patients is rarely performed in low-income countries. Our objective was to assess the outcome of and compliance with directly observed treatment (DOTS) of TB patients over a 3 year period in rural Lao PDR.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a retrospective cohort study in which we enrolled TB patients who started DOTS treatment at Attapeu Provincial Hospital. We traced, through hospital records, all patients in their residential village. We conducted a standardized questionnaire with all TB patients and performed physical and anthropometric examinations as well as evaluations of compliance through counting of treatment pills at home and at the health facilities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 172 enrolled TB patients (sex ratio female/male: 0.52, mean age: 46.9 years ± 16.9), 26 (15.1%) died. These had a lower weight at the start (34.6 <it>vs</it>. 40.8 kg, p < 0.001) and were less compliant (91.6% <it>vs</it>. 19.2%, p < 0.001) than survivors. Low compliance was associated with poor accessibility to health care (p = 0.01) and symptomatic improvement (p = 0.02). Survivors had persistently poor health status. They were underweight (54.7%), and still had clinical symptoms (53.5%), including dyspnoea (28.8%) and haemoptysis (9.5%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study suggests a lower rate of survival than expected from official statistics. Additionally, it showed that follow-up of TB patients is feasible although the patients lived in very remote area of Laos. Follow-up should be strengthened as it can improve patient compliance, and allow contact tracing, detection of new cases and collection of accurate treatment outcome information.</p> |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2334 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T04:52:44Z |
| publishDate | 2010-09-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
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| series | BMC Infectious Diseases |
| spelling | doaj.art-cd8e625eca6f4962920c0e87bb5d55972022-12-21T21:20:23ZengBMCBMC Infectious Diseases1471-23342010-09-0110126510.1186/1471-2334-10-265Survival and health status of DOTS tuberculosis patients in rural Lao PDRBarennes HubertKeophithoun ThongdamNguyen Tuan HStrobel MichelOdermatt Peter<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Contact tracing of tuberculosis (TB) patients is rarely performed in low-income countries. Our objective was to assess the outcome of and compliance with directly observed treatment (DOTS) of TB patients over a 3 year period in rural Lao PDR.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a retrospective cohort study in which we enrolled TB patients who started DOTS treatment at Attapeu Provincial Hospital. We traced, through hospital records, all patients in their residential village. We conducted a standardized questionnaire with all TB patients and performed physical and anthropometric examinations as well as evaluations of compliance through counting of treatment pills at home and at the health facilities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 172 enrolled TB patients (sex ratio female/male: 0.52, mean age: 46.9 years ± 16.9), 26 (15.1%) died. These had a lower weight at the start (34.6 <it>vs</it>. 40.8 kg, p < 0.001) and were less compliant (91.6% <it>vs</it>. 19.2%, p < 0.001) than survivors. Low compliance was associated with poor accessibility to health care (p = 0.01) and symptomatic improvement (p = 0.02). Survivors had persistently poor health status. They were underweight (54.7%), and still had clinical symptoms (53.5%), including dyspnoea (28.8%) and haemoptysis (9.5%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study suggests a lower rate of survival than expected from official statistics. Additionally, it showed that follow-up of TB patients is feasible although the patients lived in very remote area of Laos. Follow-up should be strengthened as it can improve patient compliance, and allow contact tracing, detection of new cases and collection of accurate treatment outcome information.</p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/10/265 |
| spellingShingle | Barennes Hubert Keophithoun Thongdam Nguyen Tuan H Strobel Michel Odermatt Peter Survival and health status of DOTS tuberculosis patients in rural Lao PDR BMC Infectious Diseases |
| title | Survival and health status of DOTS tuberculosis patients in rural Lao PDR |
| title_full | Survival and health status of DOTS tuberculosis patients in rural Lao PDR |
| title_fullStr | Survival and health status of DOTS tuberculosis patients in rural Lao PDR |
| title_full_unstemmed | Survival and health status of DOTS tuberculosis patients in rural Lao PDR |
| title_short | Survival and health status of DOTS tuberculosis patients in rural Lao PDR |
| title_sort | survival and health status of dots tuberculosis patients in rural lao pdr |
| url | http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/10/265 |
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