Risk Factors of Tuberculosis Treatment Failure among Tuberculosis Patients in Khuzestan Province: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious and communicable disease and one of the top ten causes of death throughout the world. Monitoring and evaluating TB treatment outcomes provides the required data for taking the necessary measures to control TB. Thus, this study was carried out to find determinants of treatment failure among patients with smear-positive pulmonary TB in Khuzestan province during 2006-2014

This retrospective cohort study was conducted over a 9-year period in Khuzestan province. Predictors of treatment failure were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression

Among 5342 patients, the cumulative incidence of unsuccessful TB treatment was 1.85%. More than half of TB patients (59.2%) enrolled in this study were male, and most of them were living in urban areas (79.8%). Significant predictors of treatment failure were age (p=·001), weight (p= ·039), number of delayed days in diagnosis (p=·01), isoniazid resistance (p≤·001), and number of bacilli in patients` sputum at the beginning of treatment (p≤·001).

In this study, the rate of successful treatment was quite high; nevertheless, new cases of treatment failure could be prevented with special efforts such as prompt diagnosis and precise follow-up under Direct Observation Treatment Short course (DOTS) strategy.