Abstract
Smoking and tuberculosis have great impact on health. Smoking is prevalent worldwide occurring in 20% of adults while uberculosis is a universal problem. Studies have shown that although smoking has no etiological role in TB, higher prevalence of TB has been observed in smokers. However, only few studies have evaluated the impact of smoking on TB treatment.
General Objective: To determine the effect of smoking on the treatment outcome among patients being treated for pulmonary tuberculosis.
Specific Objectives: To determine the prevalence of smoking among patients with PTB, incidence of treatment success and failure among patients being treated for PTB and to determine the association between smoking and treatment outcomes.
Methodology: A prospective cohort study done in Dr. Jose Rodriguez Memorial Hospital, Directly Observe Treatment Strategy (DOTS) Center included all patients diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, ages 18 years and above under the DOTS program. Demographics, co morbidities and smoking history were obtained by standardized interview. Initially CXR and sputum AFB were done. Sputum examination was repeated on 2nd, 4th month and on completion of treatment.
Result: Of the 83 patients enrolled, 29 were non smoker while 54 had smoking history (24-previous smoker, 30- current smoker). Cavitary PTB was common among patients with smoking history. Only 3 patients had treatment failure, one was previous smoker while the other 2 were current smoker.
Conclusion: Patients under DOTS program have high success rate. Although the study did not reach statistical significance, there was a strong trend on the association of smoking with treatment failure.
- © 2011 ERS