Tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection poses a growing clinical challenge. People living with HIV have a higher chance of developing TB, and once the disease has progressed, are at greater risk of having unfavorable TB treatment outcomes. Data on TB treatment outcomes among the HIV-associated TB population in Uzbekistan are limited. Thus, we conducted a cohort study among 808 adult patients with HIV-associated TB registered at the Tashkent TB referral hospital from 2013-2017 to document baseline characteristics and evaluate risk factors for unfavorable TB treatment outcomes. The data were collected from medical records and ambulatory cards. About 79.8% of the study population had favorable treatment outcomes. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage at the admission was 26.9%. Information on CD4-cell counts and viral loads were largely missing. Having extrapulmonary TB (aOR 2.21, 95% CI: 1.38-3.53, p = 0.001), positive sputum smear laboratory results on admission (aOR 1.62, 95% CI: 1.07-2.40), diabetes (aOR 5.16, 95% CI: 1.77-14.98), and hepatitis C (aOR 1.68, 95% CI: 1.14-2.46) were independent risk factors for developing unfavorable TB treatment outcomes. The study findings provide evidence for targeted clinical management in co-infected patients with risk factors. Strengthening the integration of TB/HIV services may improve availability of key data to improve co-infection management.
Keywords: HIV; SORT IT; Uzbekistan; central Asia; diabetes; hepatitis C; operational research; opportunistic infection; treatment outcomes; tuberculosis.