Effect of tobacco cessation on adults with pulmonary tuberculosis: a hospital based interventional study in Ahmedabad

Background: An association between smoking and poor tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcomes has been globally established. Various smoking cessation interventions have been proven worldwide to decrease smoking behavior. There is a need for evidence to assess if the interventions increase the chance of successful treatment outcome among TB patients. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of tobacco cessation intervention on cessation and treatment outcome of TB patients. Methods: An interventional study was done on smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients enrolled in second quarter (April-June) and third quarter (July-September) of 2019 at DMTC, civil hospital, Asarwa, Ahmedabad. After obtaining basic socio demographic data by interview, the patients were inquired about their consumption of tobacco and those consuming tobacco were randomly divided in two groups. The health education was given to only intervention group and both groups were followed up to completion of their treatment period and outcome was noted. Data was entered into a Microsoft Excel spread sheet and analyzed. Results: Tobacco consumption among TB patients was seen in 67 (25.37%) patients. At the end of the treatment, 13 (39.4%) patients in the intervention arm had quit tobacco as against 8 (23.5%) in the control arm. Treatment outcome in terms of cure rate was more in the intervention arm (51.5%) as compared to the control arm (26.5%) and the difference was found to be significant. Conclusions: The role of brief cessation advice as a measure of intervention was found to be effective in cessation of tobacco consumption.