ABSTRACTBackground: Despite the availability of effective chemotherapy in treating TB, the emergence of Multidrug-Resistance Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has jeopardized global control of TB posing a threat to the world population, particularly resource-limited countries due to its difficult, expensive, less effective and toxic treatment. Few studies in Ghana have reported on factors …
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ABSTRACTBackground: Despite the availability of effective chemotherapy in treating TB, the emergence of Multidrug-Resistance Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has jeopardized global control of TB posing a threat to the world population, particularly resource-limited countries due to its difficult, expensive, less effective and toxic treatment. Few studies in Ghana have reported on factors that influence treatment outcome of MDR-TB. Nonetheless, the success rate of MDR-TB remains low because treatment takes a longer period when compared with susceptible TB.Aim: The study was conducted to determine treatment outcomes of multi-drug resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and its associated factors among MDR-TB patients in Ashanti Region, Ghana.Method: A retrospective cohort design was adopted for this study. Data was collected from the Ashanti Regional MDR-TB register, 2015-2019 which records the patient’s name, registration number, date of starting and completion of treatment or outcome, demographic details, address and treatment outcomes. Data collected was coded, entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25 (SPSS v25). Also, a Chi-square test was used to identify association between dependent and independent variables.Results: A total of 110 MDR-TB patients were sampled for the study. Out of the 110 cases, majority (70%) were male, while 30% were female. Their age ranged between 17 and 80 years (overall mean age = 43.69±14.86). With regards to their specific age groups, most (29.1%) of them were between the ages of 40-49, 19 (17.3%) were between 20-29 years, 18 (16.4%) were between the age groups of 30-39 and 50-59 respectively, 19 (17.3%) were ≥ 60 years, while only 4 (3.6%) were below 20 years of age. There were 79 (71.8%) successful treatment outcomes which comprised 61 cured and 18 completed treatments. On the other hand, 31 representing 28.2%, had unsuccessful treatment out of which 18 died, nine (9) defaulted treatment, and four (4) had treatment failure. None of the socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, education) and clinical history (weight, BMI, HIV status) of patients were associated with treatment outcomes.Conclusion: The findings from this study demonstrate that favorable treatment outcomes for MDR-TB patients can be achieved in a resource-constrained country.
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