A Six Year Trend in Treatment Outcomes among Tuberculosis Patients and its Determinants in Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Abstract

Introduction: Directly Observed Treatment Short (DOTS) course strategy is aimed at diagnosing 70% of infectious Tuberculosis (TB) and curing 85% of it. Aim: To analyse the trend in TB treatment outcomes in the newly diagnosed patients from 2010 to 2015 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted among TB patients registered from 2010 to 2015 at DOTS TB State Center. Patient particulars like age, sex, TB category at the beginning, and treatment outcomes were collected from the records that were available with DOTS. Results: Incidence of TB in Andaman and Nicobar islands was about 171 per 1,00,000 population during 2010 to 2015, a total of 3917 cases were registered. The total annual new case detection rate increased from 72% to 78%, treatment success rate increased from 84.9% to 89.3%, default rate decreased from 4.1% to 1.4%. Conclusion: The present study analyses the situation of newly diagnosed TB patients in Andaman and Nicobar Islands from 2010 to 2015. Over the years there was a significant increase in the cure rate and a significant decrease in failure and defaulter rates. Over the years there was a significant transition of the treatment outcomes in these islands.

Keywords

• default rate
• new case detection rate
• treatment success rate