Table 2.
Disease severity and treatment characteristics of patients treated for multidrug-resistant-tuberculosis, 1999–2006
| Characteristic | Non-defaulters (n = 495) n (%) |
Defaulters (n = 88) n (%) |
Total (N = 583) n (%) |
P value* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of previous anti-tuberculosis treatment episodes | ||||
| None | 7 (1) | 5 (6) | 12 (2) | |
| 1 | 60 (12) | 8 (9) | 68 (12) | |
| ≥2 | 428 (86) | 75 (85) | 503 (86) | 0.03 |
| Baseline disease characteristics | ||||
| Culture-positive† | 473 (96) | 84 (95) | 557 (96) | 0.90 |
| Bilateral disease† | 363 (80) | 59 (75) | 422 (79) | 0.29 |
| Cavitary disease† | 190 (42) | 29 (37) | 219 (41) | 0.37 |
| DST pattern‡ | ||||
| First-line drugs only (H, R, Z, E, S) | 300 (63) | 50 (58) | 350 (62) | 0.43 |
| HR + 1 second-line drug class (± other first-line drug; not XDR-TB) |
154 (79) | 32 (84) | 186 (80) | 0.47 |
| XDR-TB (HR + second-line injection + FQ) | 18 (11) | 4 (15) | 22 (11) | 0.49 |
| Diagnosis, treatment, clinical course | ||||
| Duration of current illness at time of screening | ||||
| <2 weeks | 10 (2) | 1 (1) | 11 (2) | |
| 2 weeks–1 month | 43 (9) | 6 (7) | 49 (9) | |
| >1 month–1 year | 184 (40) | 32 (40) | 216 (40) | |
| >1 year | 223 (48) | 42 (52) | 265 (49) | 0.86 |
| Total waiting time from screening to treatment start | ||||
| <1 month | 74 (15) | 5 (6) | 79 (14) | |
| 1–5 months | 188 (38) | 33 (38) | 221 (38) | |
| 6 months–1 year | 176 (36) | 41 (47) | 217 (37) | |
| >1 year | 57 (12) | 9 (10) | 66 (11) | 0.06 |
| Total number of drugs used during treatment | ||||
| 2–3 | 133 (27) | 9 (10) | 142 (24) | |
| 4 | 285 (58) | 26 (30) | 311 (53) | |
| ≥5 | 77 (16) | 53 (60) | 130 (22) | <0.001 |
| Uncontrolled ADRs | 270 (55) | 43 (49) | 313 (54) | 0.35 |
| Hospitalized while on treatment | 109 (22) | 17 (19) | 126 (22) | 0.55 |
| Treatment interruption (>4 missed doses) during intensive phase |
143 (29) | 58 (66) | 201 (35) | <0.001 |
| Treatment interruption (>4 missed doses) during continuation phase |
253 (57) | 30 (73) | 283 (58) | 0.04 |
*
Using χ2 test comparing defaulters and non-defaulters.
†
Among pulmonary TB patients (n = 569).
‡
Of those patients with DST results available: n = 565 for first-line drugs; n = 233 for first + at least 1 class of second-line drugs; n = 194 for XDR-TB. DST = drug susceptibility testing; H = isoniazid; R = rifampin; Z = pyrazinamide; E = ethambutol; S = streptomycin; XDR-TB = extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis; FQ = fluoroquinolone; ADR = adverse drug reaction.