Prevalence and associated factors of tuberculosis treatment abandonment

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of tuberculosis treatment abandonment and its associated factors. Method: Cross-sectional study which used cases of tuberculosis in the System of Information on Notification Aggravations (Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação) from 2001 to 2017 in Ceará state. This study included 74,006 cases and the outcome was the closing situation “treatment abandonment”. A multivariate analysis was performed to estimate the association between the variables with abandonment. Results: Throughout the period, the abandonment rate was 12.54%. A higher abandonment prevalence was verified among people who live in the urban zone (PR = 2.45; 95%CI: 2.20-2.74), who are readmitted after abandonment (PR = 2.84; 95%CI: 2.68-3.01), among those notified as recurrent (PR = 1.22; 95%CI: 1.10-1.35) and among drinkers (PR = 1.50; 95%CI: 1.42-1.58). Those who were sputum smear-positive (PR = 1.11; 95%CI: 1.03-1.19) or for whom sputum smear was unperformed (PR = 1.30; 95%CI: 1.20-1.40), coinfection (PR = 2.04; CI95%: 1.89-2.21) and who were not submitted to serology (PR = 1.62; 95%CI: 1.53-1.71) have also a higher prevalence of tuberculosis treatment abandonment. Conclusion: Tuberculosis treatment abandonment is associated to biological and social factors, habits, and health service structure.