Intermittent chemotherapy compared to the daily regimen in Sudanese patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

Abstract

A prospective comparative, randomized clinical trial, hospital based study, 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 daily short course therapy. A total of 275 smear positive new cases of Tuberculosis were enrolled and randomized in to two groups 2006-2008, intermittent Group A and daily short course regimen group (B). 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 significance was (P<0.05). By the end of the fourth, fifth and the sixth month, there was no patient with positive sputum in the two groups. By the end of the second month, there was a significant decrease in the means of ESR after 6 month compared to the initial results (P<0.05). The twice weekly 6 month intermittent regime was as effective as the daily regimen, complete conversion in the two groups occurred after the end of third month. No relapse case was detected in the two groups and death rate was comparable in the two regimens.