Household members and health care workers as supervisors of tuberculosis treatment
Bibliographic Data
OBJECTIVE: To compare tuberculosis cure rates among patients supervised by household members or health care workers. METHODS: Prospective cohort study of 171 patients treated by the program in Vitoria, Southeastern Brazil, from 2004 to 2007. Each patient was followed-up for six months until the end of the treatment. Of the patients studied, a household member supervised 59 patients and healthcare workers supervised 112 patients. Patients' sociodemographic and clinic data were analyzed. Differences between groups were assessed using chi-square test or Student's t-test. Significance level was set at 5%. RESULTS: Most patients had smear positive, culture confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis. Two patients were HIV-positive. There were more illiterate patients in the healthcare-supervised group, in comparison to those supervised by their families (p=0.01). All patients supervised by a household member were cured compared to 90% of the patients supervised by health care workers (p = 0.024). CONCLUSIONS: Successful tuberculosis treatment was more frequent when supervised by household members
Chi-square test · Cohort · Family medicine · Health care · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) · Pathology · Physical therapy · Prospective cohort study · Test (biology) · Tuberculosis · Health, Nursing, Elderly Care · Internal Medicine · Leprosy Research and Treatment · Medicine · Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology
| Citations per year | 0.07 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2011 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |