Abstract
OBJECTIVE--To evaluate the effectiveness of daily supervised short course chemotherapy in a national tuberculosis programme. DESIGN--Observation of programme during 1984-90. In October 1986 short course chemotherapy was introduced with patients receiving treatment daily from staff in their nearest health facility. SETTING--Botswana national tuberculosis programme. SUBJECTS--All patients with tuberculosis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Proportions of patients complying with and defaulting from treatment (missing > or = 43 days' treatment). RESULTS--2938 cases of tuberculosis were recorded in 1990, 1528 of which were of sputum positive pulmonary disease. 2711 (92.3%) patients complied with treatment and 227 (7.7%) defaulted. Before introduction of short course chemotherapy compliance was about 60% compared with over 90% in 1987-90. CONCLUSIONS--A programme using daily supervised short course chemotherapy integrated into the primary health care system is an effective method of treating tuberculosis. The costs of the programme need to be evaluated.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Armstrong R. H., Pringle D. Compliance with anti-tuberculous chemotherapy in Harare City. Cent Afr J Med. 1984 Aug;30(8):144–148. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bailey W. C., Sbarbaro J. A. Controversies in pulmonary medicine. All patients should receive directly observed therapy in tuberculosis. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1988 Oct;138(4):1075–1076. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Barnum H. N. Cost savings from alternative treatments for tuberculosis. Soc Sci Med. 1986;23(9):847–850. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(86)90212-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Iseman M. D. Short-course chemotherapy of tuberculosis: the harsh realities. Semin Respir Infect. 1986 Dec;1(4):213–219. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Murray C. J., Styblo K., Rouillon A. Tuberculosis in developing countries: burden, intervention and cost. Bull Int Union Tuberc Lung Dis. 1990 Mar;65(1):6–24. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Reed J. B., McCausland R., Elwood J. M. Default in the outpatient treatment of tuberculosis in two hospitals in Northern India. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1990 Mar;44(1):20–23. doi: 10.1136/jech.44.1.20. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rieder H. L. Tuberculosis in an Indochinese refugee camp: epidemiology, management and therapeutic results. Tubercle. 1985 Sep;66(3):179–186. doi: 10.1016/0041-3879(85)90034-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tefuarani N., Smiley M. A study of compliance of paediatric patients attending for tuberculosis treatment in the National Capital District. P N G Med J. 1989 Sep;32(3):177–180. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]