POST-TREATMENT COMPLICATIONS AMONG DRUG RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS IN TERTIARY CARE SETTINGS

Abstract

Despite major social and medical interventions around the sphere, tuberculosis is still a global health concern from many decades. Drug resistant tuberculosis is more difficult to treat further advent of adverse effects on completion of treatment compromise the quality of life. Patients infected with drug resistant TB are more prone to get toxic effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. Some of the adverse effects are long lasting and chronic. Aim of this study was to observe the adverse effects and complications of drug resistant TB patients on completion of their treatment at programmatic management of drug resistant TB (PMDT) site in a tertiary care hospital. This cross sectional study was undertaken at PMDT site of a well-known tertiary care hospital of Lahore Pakistan from February 2021 to January 2023. All the patients of drug resistant TB completing their treatment from PMDT site were interviewed to ask about complications and adverse effects. Ethical permission for this work was obtained and data was collected on predesigned questionnaire then entered and analyzed in SPSS. A total of 150 drug resistant TB patients were interviewed, consisting of 83 (55.3%) males and 67 (44.7%) females. An overall mean age of patients was remained to be 34.59±14.95 years. Joint pain (32.7%) was the most common complication reported by drug resistant TB patients followed by Nausea (32.0%) and vomiting (23.3%). Irreversible hearing loss (3.3%) and vision problems (2.7%) were also reported. Drugs to treat resistant TB cases keep higher level of toxicity as 79.3% of the study subjects had at least one complication. Male gender and long treatment group acquired significantly higher level of complications as compared to female gender and short term group respectively.