Association between antiretroviral therapy and antitubercular drug resistance in TB treatment outcome among Kazakh TB/HIV co-infected patients.

OBJECTIVES: Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) poses a serious threat to public health in Kazakhstan. This paper presents findings related to TB treatment outcome and drug resistance status among people co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and TB in Kazakhstan.

METHODS: A cohort study using data provided by the Kazakhstan Ministry of Health's National Tuberculosis Program for 2014 and 2015 was performed. The χ2 test and logistical regression were performed to understand factors associated with drug-resistant TB status and TB treatment outcome.

RESULTS: In the bivariate analysis, drug-resistant TB status was significantly associated with year of TB diagnosis (P=0.001) and viral load (P=0.03). TB treatment outcome was significantly associated with age at diagnosis (p=0.01), antiretroviral (ARV) treatment (P<0.0001) and drug-resistant TB status (P=0.02). In the adjusted analysis, drug-resistant TB status was associated with an increased likelihood of successful completion of treatment with a successful outcome compared with treatment failure (odds ratio=6.94, 95% confidence interval 1.39-34.44).

CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that having drug-resistant TB is associated with a higher likelihood of completing treatment with successful outcome, even when controlling for receipt of ARV therapy.