Setting: Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, Tertiary Level tuberculosis (TB) institute in Delhi, India.
Objective: To study the reasons for interruption of Anti-Tubercular Treatment (ATT) as reported by tuberculosis patients admitted at LRSI.
Design: Retrospective cohort-based analysis.
Results: A total of 201 patients were enrolled (179 of pulmonary tuberculosis, eight of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis and fourteen of both pulmonary as well as extra-pulmonary tuberculosis); who had interrupted treatment 327 times. Maximum interruptions (72.17%) were found to occur by third month of ATT. More than one reason was often reported for discontinuation of treatment. In all, 366 responses were obtained from 201 patients, in response to reasons for treatment interruption. The rate of treatment interruption was higher in the private health sector (56.27%), as compared to DOTS (34.25%) and other sources of treatment (9.48%). Early improvement (30.05%) and high cost of treatment (16.39%) were found to be the two most common reasons, leading to treatment interruption.
Conclusion: Early improvement and high cost of treatment were found to be the two most common reasons, leading to treatment interruption. Continuous health education should be provided to all tubercular patients emphasizing the need to continue treatment despite early improvement in symptoms.