Abstract:
The aim of this study is to assist clinicians and other healthcare providers in making
evidence-based decisions about appropriate treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis,
specifically by evaluating the efficacy of intermittent TB chemotherapy compared with
the daily short course regimen in regards to: Adherence to treatment and Relapse rate.
Prospective comparative, randomized clinical trial, hospital based study is carried out at
Kosti teaching hospital using Directly Observed Treatment short course (DOTS), to
evaluate the efficacy of intermittent chemotherapy compared to the currently adopted
short course therapy. A total of 275 smear positive new cases of Tuberculosis were
enrolled and randomized in to two groups, intermittent group (A)(2\ERIZ\ 4\RI) and
daily regimen group (B)( 2\SRIZ\ 4\RI) . The raw data were introduced into SPSS
program, data comparison was carried out by Pearson Chi square and pair independent
sample student T-test. The level of significant was (P<0.05). By the end of the fourth,
fifth and the sixth month, no patient was with positive sputum in the two groups. By the
end of the second month, haemoptysis was completely disappeared in the two groups.
Treatment outcome revealed that the cure rate was higher in group A (55 %) than group
B (45.5%); default rate was lower in group A (40.6%) than group B (51%). The
percentage of death rate was comparable in group A 0.8% and 0.7% in group B .
Significant decrease in the means of ESR at 6 month compared to the initial results. No
relapse case detected in the two groups. Intermittent regimen appears to have an
advantage over the daily regimen when the financial issue and patient satisfaction are
considered. Ultimately the intermittent regimen reduces about 43 % of the cost of drugs
consumed in the continuation phase of treatment.
