Javed Iqbal, Muzamil Nazir.
Tuberculosis; Relapse In Interrupted Antituberculous Therapy.
Professional Med J Jan ;24(7):942-6.

Objectives: To know the frequency of relapse in patients of tuberculosis who completed the total therapy but in interrupted course. Study Design: Prospective Cohort study. Place and duration of study: Outpatient and Inpatient units of Chest and TB ward BahawalVictoria Hospital Bahawalpur. Methodology: Patient showing characteristics according to WHO standard were included in the study i.e. clinical features and radiographic abnormalities consistent with active pulmonary tuberculosis; and no response to a course of broad-spectrum antibiotics regarding signs and symptoms. Also included were those with clinical features consistent with tuberculosis with Mycobacterium smear and culture positive or smear positive or culture positive. Such patients were interviewed and case file/charts were reviewed. Specific things looked were their prior antituberculous therapy, number of days antituberculous therapy interrupted, age, and gender. All others with diabetes mellitus, smokers, alcoholic were excluded from the study. Results: There were total 67 patients enrolled in the study and among them 34 (50.7%) males and 33 (49.3%) females. Male age ranges 26-75 years(mean 46.20+ SD 12.46) and female age range 13-70 years (mean 40.42+SD 13.32) Among these relapse cases 6 (9%) patients had interrupted ATT during their prior therapy for a period ranged 2-90 days (P-value <0.001). Among these 5 (83%) were females and 1 was male. Conclusion: Interrupted ATT caries significant risk for future relapse of tuberculosis.

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