Treatment outcome of Tuberculosis at a specialist hospital in North Western Nigeria - A 30 months retrospective study

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the global leading causes of morbidity and mortality and Nigeria is among the six countries that accounted for 60% of the new cases in 2015. Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) lead to improved treatment outcome with overall reduction in morbidity and development of multidrug resistant TB. The current goal of TB treatment is to achieve 85% treatment success.Objective: To determine the type and form of TB, treatment outcome and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status of patients managed at the DOTS clinic of Ahmad Sani Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital (ASYBSH), Gusau - Nigeria.Methodology:  A retrospective study of patients managed for tuberculosis at the DOTS clinic over a 30 months period (Jan 2015 to June 2017). All patients that have completed treatment over the study period were enrolled. Relevant Information from the register was retrieved. Tuberculosis treatment outcomes were assessed according to World Health Organization (WHO) and National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program (NTLCP) guidelinesResults:  Of the 415 patients, 76(18.3%) were children while 339(81.7%) were adults. Males were 254 (61.2%), with a M: F ratio of 1.6:1. 348 (83.9%) had pulmonary TB while 67 (16.1%) had extra pulmonary TB. Majority (97.6%) of the patients were new cases, while 4 (1.0%) were relapse. 184 (44.3%) had their treatment completed, 161 (38.8%) were cured, with a successful treatment outcome of 83.1%.Conclusion: The patients were mostly males with smear positive pulmonary TB and HIV uninfected. Treatment outcome in these patients was close to the WHO bench mark. Nonetheless, it shows that childhood TB is still under diagnosed and under treated as the number of paediatric cases were low.