Source of Previous Treatment for Re-Treatment TB Cases in India
Author Information
Author(s): Sachdeva Kuldeep Singh, Satyanarayana Srinath, Dewan Puneet Kumar, Nair Sreenivas Achuthan, Reddy Raveendra, Kundu Debasish, Chadha Sarabjit Singh, Madhugiri Venkatachalaiah Ajay Kumar, Parmar Malik, Chauhan Lakhbir Singh
Primary Institution: Central TB Division, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India
Hypothesis
What is the source of previous treatment for re-treatment TB patients registered under India's Revised National TB Control Programme?
Conclusion
Nearly half of the re-treatment TB cases registered with the national programme were most recently treated outside the programme setting.
Supporting Evidence
- 44% of re-treatment TB patients were treated outside the national programme.
- Extrapolated, 128,907 patients would have been treated outside the national programme in 2010.
- 70% of re-treatment cases were males.
- The study included 1712 re-treatment TB patients.
Takeaway
This study found that many people who had TB and needed treatment again were treated by private doctors instead of the government program, which could lead to more problems.
Methodology
A nationally-representative cross-sectional study was conducted in 36 randomly-selected districts, collecting data from all consecutively registered re-treatment TB patients over a 15-day period.
Potential Biases
The study investigators are linked with the programme, which may introduce inherent biases in classifying the source of previous treatment.
Limitations
The study only represents patients registered for treatment under RNTCP and does not account for those treated outside the program.
Participant Demographics
70% of participants were male, with 66% aged between 25-54 years.
Statistical Information
Confidence Interval
95% CI, 38.2%–49.9%
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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