The Actual Duration of Chemotherapy in Patients with Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis as a Basis for Calculating the Need for Anti-tuberculosis Drugs

The objective: to study the actual duration of chemotherapy in patients registered for treatment with drug-resistant tuberculosis regimens and the factors providing impact on it.

Subjects and Methods. Using the Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression methods, the duration of treatment of 23,798 cases of tuberculosis in Russia was analyzed.

Results. All studied factors, including the registration group, chemotherapy regimen, HIV status, and gender, independently influenced the duration of period from treatment registration to successful treatment. However, the registration group and chemotherapy regimen had the greatest impact. Only the chemotherapy regimen had a statistically significant effect on the duration of treatment until failure. All factors except the gender had an independent effect on the duration of treatment until death. However, the greatest impact on tuberculosis-related deaths was exerted by the patient group and treatment regimen, while the most significant impact on other causes was exerted by the registration group and HIV status. Independent influence on the duration of treatment before loss to follow-up included the initiation of treatment after chemotherapy failure and initiation of an empirical treatment regimen. The duration of treatment until transferred out outcome was not affected by any of these  factors.

Conclusion. The obtained results will enable the development of a model for calculating the need for anti-tuberculosis drugs, taking into account the actual duration of treatment.

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