212 |
AU |
: |
Sloan JP & Sloan MC |
TI |
: |
An assessment of default and non-compliance in tuberculosis
control in Pakistan. |
SO |
: |
TRANS R SOC TROP MED HYG 1981, 75, 717-718. |
DT |
: |
Per |
AB |
: |
A study was conducted in a rural hospital in the
Sind area of Pakistan, where the standard treatment was an 18-month
course of isoniazid and thiacetazone, combined with PAS for the
first three months. All patients were being treated for pulmonary
TB although several also had orthopaedic, abdominal and neurological
complications. The case notes of each of the 300 patients attending
the TB Control Clinic at the hospital over a three-year period were
studied. From this group, both attendance and default patterns were
assessed. Sixty of these patients attending the clinic at the time
of the study (Aug.-Sept. 1977) were individually assessed regarding
compliance to the prescribed treatment. Compliant patients were
compared with non-compliant ones. The results revealed a default
rate of 66 percent and a compliance rate of 53 percent for PAS and
60 percent isoniazid measured by objective pharmacological tests.
Suggestions were made for a change from the prescribed out-patient
approach, to intermittent dose chemotherapy administered by health
care workers in the community.
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KEYWORDS: COMPLIANCE; DEFAULT; PAKISTAN. |