Factors associated with delays in treatment initiation after tuberculosis diagnosis in two districts in India.
Abstract
Excessive time between diagnosis and initiation of tuberculosis (TB) treatment contributes to ongoing TB transmission and should be minimized. In India, Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) focuses on indicator start of treatment within 7 days of diagnosis for patients with sputum smear-positive PTB for monitoring DOTS implementation.
The objectives of the study were to determine length of time between diagnosis and initiation of treatment and factors associated with delays of more than 7 days in smear-positive pulmonary TB.
Using existing programme records such as the TB Register, treatment cards, and the laboratory register, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of all patients with smear-positive pulmonary TB registered from July-September 2010 in two districts in India. A random sample of patients with pulmonary TB who experienced treatment delay of more than 7 days was interviewed using structured questionnaire.
Citation
Durba, P.; Busireddy, A.; Nagaraja, SB.; Satyanarayana, S.; Dewan, PK.; Nair, SA.; Sarkar, S.; Ahmed, QT.; Sarkar, S.; Sreenivas, SRM.; Harries, AD.; Oeltmann, JE. Factors Associated with Delays in Treatment Initiation after Tuberculosis Diagnosis in Two Districts of India. PLoS ONE (2012) 7 (7) e39040. [DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039040]