Time to recovery among tuberculosis patients receiving anti-Koch's drug in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Nigeria is ranked seventh in the world and second among African countries with the highest burden of Tuberculosis (TB). This study aims to investigate the recovery time among TB patients receiving the first line of anti-Kochs (Isoniazid, Rifampicin, Pyrazinamide and Ethambutol) drugs at Chest Hospital Jericho, Ibadan.

METHODOLOGY: The study design was a facility-based retrospective cohort study that was conducted among patients on anti-Kochs drugs at a TB clinic from January 2015 to December 2019, Government Chest Hospital Jericho, Ibadan, Oyo state Nigeria. Six hundred and forty-four patient records were extracted from the hospital records. Kaplan-Meier survival method was used to describe the time to recovery, and Cox-proportional hazards model was used to determine factors associated with recovery time from TB after the use of anti-Kochs drugs. Hazard ratios (HR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported. All analyses were conducted at a 5% level of significance.

RESULTS: The median survival time (ST) of patients using anti-Kochs drugs for treatment was 61 (CI:59.6-62.4) days. About 72% of the patients recovered from TB after the first two months of having the disease. Patients who were female (aHR = 1.05; CI 0.89-1.25), HIV negative (aHR = 1.03, CI: 0.80-1.34) and lived in rural area (aHR = 0.97; CI 0.83-1.14) were more likely to have a shorter time to recovery from TB compared to their respective counterparts though statistically non-significant.

CONCLUSION: This study showed a significant recovery after the use of anti-Kochs drugs. The recovery time of the participants was 61 days, which indicated that anti-Kochs drug is very effective for TB treatment. To increase adherence, it is suggested that the policy should be changed from the required time of 6 months (180 days) to 2 months (61 days), since the drugs require them to maintain a good diet during the time of taking the drugs. This finding is useful to the National TB Control Program and the hospital authorities.