Publication:

Study on the adverse effects affecting treatment outcome in smear positive tuberculosis patients under DOTS in Amritsar city

Background The world adopts DOTS strategy for TB control thought the national TB control programs in different countries and is making good progress. Despite the positive therapeutic effects, studies have shown that utilization of multidrug regimens can cause undesirable adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of varying degrees of severity, such as hepatotoxicity, gastrointestinal disorders, allergic reactions, arthralgia, neurological disorders and non-adherence to treatment as well.

Methods The study was conducted on new smear positive patients registered under DOTS in two Treatment Units (TUs) present in Amritsar city. The prevalence of various adverse effects like gastro-intestinal, hepato-biliary, visual disturbances, musculoskeletal, skin and appendages, peripheral nervous system, etc was recorded and their effect on the outcome was observed. Data management and analysis was done by using Microsoft excel and SPSS version 17.00.

Results Out of 250 patients, 149 (59.6%) were males and 101(40.4%) were females. Out of the total 250 cases, adverse effects were present in 44.4% cases. Most common adverse effects observed were gastrointestinal in 63.9% followed by fever and chills in 28.8% of cases.

Conclusions On statistical analysis, it was observed that the absence of adverse effects was significantly associated with the favourable outcome (p<0.001).