Treatment outcome of patients having extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in Gujarat, India.

BACKGROUND: To investigate the factors affecting treatment outcome of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in Gujarat, India.

METHODS: A prospective, observational study was conducted on patients with XDR TB from January 2012 to October 2016. Details of demography, clinical symptoms, sputum/culture and radiological examination, drug treatment, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and treatment outcome were recorded in pretested case record form (CRF). Data was analyzed using Fisher's exact test and paired student's t test.

RESULTS: Out of 112 patients, 83 (74%) were men and 29 (26%) were women and majority of belonged to age group of 16 - 45 years. Majority of patients (79%) received standardized treatment. A total of 61 (54%) patients converted to sputum culture negative by 12 months and out of these, 49 turned sputum culture negative within initial 6 months of treatment. Successful treatment outcome was seen in 29 (25.89 %). Age ≤40 years (P<0.05), body mass index > 18.5 (P<0.05) and sputum/culture conversion at three month (P<0.001) were positive predictors for successful treatment outcome, while tobacco chewing habit (P<0.05) and alcohol consumption (P<0.05) were negative predictors for the successful treatment outcome. Out of 83 (74.1 %) patients with unsuccessful treatment outcome, 58 (51.78 %) died, 11 (9.82 %) were defaulter and 10 (8.92 %) were treatment failure. Factors positively associated with death were very low BMI (< 18.5), concomitant diseases and harmful personal habits.

CONCLUSIONS: Treatment outcome of XDR TB patients is extremely poor with high mortality rate.