Table 1. PICO question breakdown for adherence interventions in TB treatment.

Population	Intervention	Comparator	Outcome
Patients on treatment for drug-sensitive TB Patients on MDR-TB treatment Children (0–14 y) and adults TB patients infected with HIV and not infected with HIV	Any intervention to promote treatment adherence Supervising treatment (DOT, VOT) Measures to improve treatment adherence (e.g., medication monitors and/or SMS or phone call reminders) Social support (educational, psychological, material) Combinations of the above interventions	Routine practice*	Adherence to treatment (or treatment interruption because of nonadherence) Conventional TB treatment outcomes: cured/completed, failure, relapse, survival/death Adverse reactions from TB drugs (severity, type, organ class)

*Routine practice refers to regular TB drugs pickup and consultations with a physician or other healthcare workers being available when necessary, TB treatment being free of charge; and essential information/health education in relation to TB treatment being provided [24].

Abbreviations: DOT, directly observed therapy; MDR-TB, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis; PICO, population, intervention, comparison, outcome; SMS, short message service; TB, tuberculosis; VOT, video-observed therapy.