Background: Depression is a common comorbidity of tuberculosis (TB) and is associated with poor adherence to treatment of multiple disorders. We conducted a systematic review to synthesize the existing evidence on the relationship between depression and negative outcomes of TB treatment.
Methods: We systematically reviewed studies that evaluated depressive symptoms (DS) directly or indirectly through psychological distress (PD) and measured negative treatment outcomes of drug-sensitive pulmonary TB, defined as death, loss to follow-up, or non-adherence. Sources included PubMed, Global Health Library, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science from inception to August 2019.
Results: Of the 2,970 studies initially identified, eight articles were eligible for inclusion and two were used for the primary outcome meta-analysis. We found a strong association between DS and negative TB treatment outcomes (OR = 4.26; CI95%:2.33-7.79; I2 = 0%). DS were also associated with loss to follow-up (OR = 8.70; CI95%:6.50-11.64; I2 = 0%) and death (OR = 2.85; CI95%:1.52-5.36; I2 = 0%). Non-adherence was not associated with DS and PD (OR = 1.34; CI95%:0.70-2.72; I2 = 94.36) or PD alone (OR = 0.92; CI95%:0.81-1.05; I2 = 0%).
Conclusions: DS are associated with the negative TB treatment outcomes of death and loss to follow-up. Considerable heterogeneity exists in the definition of depression and outcomes such as non-adherence across the limited number of studies on this topic.