Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Lisbon: unfavourable treatment and associated factors, 2000–2014

SETTING: The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) has been decreasing in Portugal. Lisbon concentrates the largest number of cases of multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB in the country. This study aims at identifying clinical and demographic factors associated with unfavourable treatment results of patients with MDR-TB in the city. METHOD: The data on 265 MDR-TB cases, notified from 2000 to 2014 in the District of Lisbon, were collected from the Tuberculosis Surveillance System. Unfavourable cases were classified as failure, loss to follow-up (LTFU) and death. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were undertaken to estimate the factors associated with unfavourable outcomes, LTFU and death. RESULTS: The proportion of unfavourable outcomes was 30.5%. These were associated mostly with being male, foreign-born and resistant to kanamycin. Death was associated with being human immunodeficiency virus-positive and resistant to kanamycin. Being foreign-born had a 4.46-fold higher odds of a LTFU outcome than did being Portuguese-born. The foreign-born patients were mostly African immigrants. CONCLUSION: The main finding in this study is that foreign-born patients are associated with a higher probability of unfavourable outcomes than Portuguese-born patients. Therefore, foreign-born patients need more careful monitoring in the control of MDR-TB.