TABLE 1.
Characteristics of patients in relation to sputum smear conversion at 2 months of treatment
| Patient characteristic | Smear-negative at 2 months n (%) | Smear-positive at 2 months n (%) | Total patients n | P value |
| Total | 703 (84) | 137 (16) | 840 | |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 513 (82) | 109 (18) | 622 | 0.1075 |
| Female | 190 (87) | 28 (13) | 218 | |
| Ethnicity | ||||
| Sinhalese | 599 (85) | 108 (15) | 707 | |
| Tamil | 53 (77) | 16 (23) | 69 | |
| Muslim | 41 (77) | 12 (23) | 53 | 0.2209 |
| Other ethnic group | 4 (80) | 1 (20) | 5 | |
| Not recorded | 6 (100) | 0 | 6 | |
| Age group, years | ||||
| 0–14 | 3 (75) | 1 (25) | 4 | |
| 15–24 | 104 (90) | 12 (10) | 116 | |
| 25–34 | 123 (89) | 15 (11) | 138 | |
| 35–44 | 114 (81) | 27 (19) | 141 | 0.1668 |
| 45–54 | 148 (81) | 34 (19) | 182 | |
| 55–64 | 121 (83) | 24 (17) | 145 | |
| ≥65 | 86 (80) | 22 (20) | 108 | |
| Age not recorded | 4 (67) | 2 (33) | 6 | |
| Presence of cavities on chest X-ray | ||||
| Present | 189 (82) | 41 (18) | 230 | |
| Not present | 383 (85) | 69 (15) | 452 | 0.6641 |
| Not recorded | 131 (83) | 27 (17) | 158 | |
| HIV status | ||||
| Negative | 44 (68) | 21 (32) | 65 | 0.0003 |
| Unknown | 659 (85) | 116 (15) | 775 | |
| Highest sputum grade at baseline | ||||
| Scanty | 29 (91) | 3 (9) | 32 | |
| 1+ | 302 (91) | 29 (9) | 331 | |
| 2+ | 183 (87) | 28 (13) | 211 | <0.0001 |
| 3+ | 163 (69) | 73 (31) | 236 | |
| Not recorded | 26 (87) | 4 (13) | 30 | |
| DOT provider in first 2 months | ||||
| Chest clinic | 99 (78) | 28 (22) | 127 | |
| Other DOT centres | 563 (84) | 104 (16) | 667 | 0.1158 |
| Not recorded | 41 (89) | 5 (11) | 46 | |
| Drug doses missed in first 2 months | ||||
| No missed doses | 523 (86) | 85 (14) | 608 | |
| 1–7 | 26 (76) | 8 (24) | 34 | |
| 8–30 | 25 (83) | 5 (17) | 30 | 0.0443 |
| 31–60 | 5 (83) | 1 (17) | 6 | |
| Not recorded | 124 (77) | 38 (23) | 162 |
HIV = human immunodeficiency virus; DOT = directly observed treatment.