Tuberculosis (Tb) Treatment Outcome in Enugu State Teaching Hospital Chest Clinic, Parklane: A 5-Year Retrospective Study

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious global health challenge. Every year, it affects millions of people and is currently the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent surpassing even HIV. Several factors can influence the outcome of TB treatment, including a person's age, marital status, educational background, HIV status, how soon they seek medical care, and the type of treatment they receive. Individuals at the extremes of age both the very young and the elderly often have weaker immune systems, which can affect how well they respond to treatment. Hence, it became important to articulate the reported burden and treatment outcomes of TB in Enugu State in relation to the national burden so as to equip health workers in the states and beyond with the information that will help them to inform their clients and the general public. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate TB treatment outcomes between 2013 and 2017 among patients at Enugu State Teaching Hospital Chest Clinic, Parklane. Methodology: The study employed a retrospective design using register from the ministry of health Enugu. It involved a designed proforma which was used in data collection from documented treated cases. Data was presented using Tables, Chi square and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) 22 statistical package, at a significance level of P< 0.05. Results: The result revealed that 2013 had the greatest proportion of registered individuals managed for TB (23.3%), followed by those registered in 2014 (22.4%), with 2017 having the least record (16.8%). There were more males 271 (63.2%) than females were 158 (36.8%). nearly half of the study population had their treatment completed (47.1%), 20.7% had successful treatment outcomes (cured), 16.6% were transferred out, 13.1% of them were unsuccessful (died) including 12.6% of them were lost to follow up, others which include 1.4% of them had treatment failure and 0.9% of them were not evaluated. There were no statistically significant difference in the distributions of male and female patients who had good or poor treatment outcomes (χ2 = 1.558, p=0.212). The younger patients (1 – 45 years) had higher proportions of good treatment outcome while the older ones this was found to be significant as χ2 = 13.296,p=0.010. Conclusion: Findings in the study showed the positive impact of the different strategic programs which combat TB. The Global strategy and targets for TB prevention care and control appears to have yielded positive results, this was reflected by the decreasing trend in the prevalence of TB cases.