Prevalence and drug resistance pattern of MDR TB in retreatment cases of Punjab, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and resistance pattern of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out from January 2010 to June 2014 in nine tertiary care hospitals implementing programmatic management of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Punjab, and comprised retreatment tuberculosis cases. Data was collected from the Electronic Nominal Review System. SPSS 17 was used for data analysis.

RESULTS: Of the 1,250 cases, 861(69%) were of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis confirmed through drug sensitivity testing. The mean age was 32 (±13.5 SD) years. Besides, 664(53%) were males and 1,208(97%) resided in urban areas of Punjab. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis was found to be more prevalent in the most productive age group, i.e. 15-45 years, with 709(57%) cases (p<0.05), in urban areas1, 208(97%) cases (p<0.05) and in the pulmonary site 852(68%) cases (p<0.05). Overall, 391(41%) cases showed resistance to all first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs while 239(28%) showed resistance to oral first-line drugs. Besides, 526(42%) cases showed resistance to fluoroquinolones and 650(52%) to second-line drugs. Of them, 420(81%), (p<0.05) patients showed highly significant resistance to fluoroquinolones and 26(5%) to ethionamide.

CONCLUSIONS: There is a need to fully implement national tuberculosis guidelines with a focus on expansion and effective implementation of directly observed therapy short course in order to prevent further emergence of drug resistance.