RISK FACTORS FOR TREATMENT FAILURE AMONG CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH PULMONARY TB

Objective: to identify the major risk factors for treatment failure among children and adolescents with pulmonary TB. Materials and methods: aretrospective comparative study enrolled 141 patients aged 2–17 years with different forms of pulmonary TB. Upon completion of the main chemotherapy course consisting of the intensive and continuation phases, the patients were divided into two groups: group 1 – patients with treatment failure, group 2 – patients with treatment success. We compared the patients’ gender and age, social status of the families, the presence of medical or biological risk factors (the absence of anti-TB vaccination, concomitant chronic diseases, acute infectious diseases during the treatment, TB process at detection, drug resistance patterns in the patients and infection sources, the time of drug resistance development, the information about chemotherapy regimens and treatment administration, the occurrence and duration of treatment interruptions) in the groups. The obtained data were processed using binary logistic regression carried out by the SPSS 21.0 software. Results: we built a mathematical statistical model of the individual risk for treatment failure among children and adolescents with pulmonary TB. Conclusion: the major risk factors for treatment failure among children andadolescents with pulmonary TB were associated with inadequate chemotherapy: ignorance of drug resistance patterns on the initial treatment phase, defective use of chemotherapy potentials, wrong choice of treatment administration form. Late detection of TB (lung destruction, advanced TB process) was a more frequent factor in group 2 than group 1 but did not significantly influence treatment outcome.