Table 1. Key characteristics of the eight studies included in the systematic review of decentralized versus centralized care for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, 1994–2013.

Author, year, location	Study design	Year of intervention	Sample size for intervention/control	HIV prevalence in study population (%)	Description of arms		Method of selection of intervention group	Timing of intervention		Outcomes measured
					Control	Intervention		Within treatment	Relative to control
Loveday et al.22 2015, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa	Prospective cohort	2008–2010	736/813	75	Treatment in central specialized tuberculosis hospital	Treatment in rural hospital followed by outpatient home- or clinic-based DOT, by health workers	Based on residential location	Intensive phasea	Concurrent	Death, loss to follow-up, treatment failure, treatment success
Chan et al.19 2013, Taiwan, China	Retrospective cohort	2007–2008	290/361	0.9	Hospital and out-patient clinics	Home- based DOT, by observers and nurses	Time period	Entire duration of treatment	Consecutive	Treatment success
Kerschberger et al.b 2016, Swaziland	Retrospective cohort	2008–2013	157/298	81	Clinic-based care in which patients visited nearest health facility daily	Home-based DOT, by trained community volunteers	Based on residential location and socioeconomic status	Intensive phase	Concurrent	Cost of care, death, loss to follow-up, treatment failure, treatment success
Narita et al.24 2001, Florida, USA	Retrospective cohort	1994–1997	31/39	44.3	Treatment in specialized tuberculosis hospital	Outpatient DOT and/or SAT	Selected for control if: failing treatment, needed treatment of other medical condition and/or non-adherent	Entire duration of treatment	Concurrent	Death, treatment completion
Gler et al.21 2012, Philippines	Retrospective cohort	2003–2006	167/416	NR	Treatment in central hospital	Community- based DOT, by trained health-care workers	Time period	After sputum-culture conversion	Consecutive	Loss to follow-up
Cox et al.20 2014, Khayelitsha, South Africa	Retrospective cohort	2008–2010	512/206	72	Hospital-based care	Community-based care integrated into existing primary care tuberculosis and HIV services.	Based on residential location	Entire duration of treatment	Consecutive	Death, loss to follow-up, treatment failure, treatment success
Musa et al.23 2016, Nigeria	Modelling	N/A	N/A	NR	Hospital-based care	Home-based DOT, by trained health-care providers	Random selection	Intensive phase	N/A	Health-system costs
Sinanovic et al.25 2015, Khayelitsha, South Africa	Modelling	N/A	467c	72	Fully hospitalized model in which patients stay in hospital until culture conversion	A model of fully decentralized care in primary health-care clinics, plus other models of partially decentralized care	N/A	Entire duration of treatment	N/A	Health-system costs

DOT: directly observed therapy; HIV: human immunodeficiency virus; N/A: not applicable; NR: not reported; SAT: self-administered therapy; USA: United States of America.

^a Intensive phase defined by inclusion of an injectable antibiotic in the treatment regimen.

^b Unpublished study from Médecins Sans Frontières, Mbabane, Swaziland, 2016.

^c Total number of patients used in four different models of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis care.