Yusuf B Jibrin, Sabiu A Gwalabe, Jacob A Dunga, Mohammed M Abdull
Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) remains a major public health concern in both developing and developed countries, but the impact is much felt in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, with high predisposing risk factor of co-morbidities of pover ty, and high incidence of HIV. Information on the demographics and outcome is necessary for the contr ol of the disease. The demographic characteristics and the treatment outcome of PTB ha ve not been reported in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) Bauchi. Therefore, this study was aimed to describe the socio- demographic characteristics and determine the treat ment outcome of the patients attending the Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) clinic at th e institution. Demographic and outcome variables were extracted from the medical records and patient treatment by using a standard structured questionnaire and the results were express in perce ntages and frequencies. A total of two hundred and fifty nine (259) PTB patients records were extracte d and entered into the study data base. Their Gende r distribution was 146(56%) males and 113(44%) female s age range of 15-70 years. Majority of the patient were civil servants with some level of education an d earned less than thirty thousand ( Ã?¢Ã?â??Ã?¦ 30,000) Naira, approximately sixty five dollars ($65) monthly. Mos t of them lived less than 5 Kilometres from the cli nic. Eighty percent (80%) of patients were successfully treated while in 20% were not successfully treated. This study showed that pulmonary tuberculosis affec ts mostly the most productive age group of the population with some level of education and low inc ome. The success rate of treatment falls short of the recommended success rate suggested by WHO. Ther e is need for further studies to identify the factors responsible for failure to achieve the WHO recommendation as well as factors responsible for unsuccessful treatment.
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