BACKGROUND Directly observed therapy (DOT) remains the cornerstone of the global tuberculosis (TB) control strategy. Tanzania, one of the 22 high-burden countries regarding TB, changed the first-line treatment regimen to contain rifampicin-containing fixed-dose combination for the full 6 months of treatment. As daily health facility-based DOT for this long period is not feasible for the patient...

BACKGROUND Mobile phone text messaging (SMS) has the potential to promote adherence to tuberculosis treatment. This systematic review aims to synthesize current evidence on the effectiveness of SMS interventions in improving patients' adherence to tuberculosis treatment. METHODS We searched electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Science Citation Index), reference lists of relevant articles, co...

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of death from infectious disease worldwide with 80,000 pediatric deaths annually. Disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is usually asymptomatic in pediatric patients and resolves after completion of standard therapy with isoniazid (INH). Rare reports document children greater than 10 years of age in endemic regions developing adult type cav...

RATIONALE Isoniazid given daily for 9 months is the standard treatment for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), but its effectiveness is limited by poor completion rates. Shorter course regimens and regimens using directly observed therapy result in improved adherence but have higher upfront costs. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the costs and cost-effectiveness of regimens for the treatment of LTBI....

BACKGROUND Uptake of isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) to prevent tuberculosis has been poor, particularly in the highest risk populations. Interventions to improve IPT delivery could promote implementation. The large number of existing systematic reviews on treatment adherence has made drawing conclusions a challenge. To provide decision makers with the evidence they need, we performed an ove...

1Directorate General of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, Baghdad, Iraq. 2Institute of Tuberculosis and Chest Disease, Baghdad, Iraq. 3 Department of Community Medicine, Al Nahrain Medical College, Baghdad, Iraq. ABSTRACT Over a period of 6 months the effect of home visits on compliance with directly observed therapy, short course (DOTS), was studied on 480 new smear-positive tuberculosi...

BACKGROUND Known risk factors for death following a diagnosis of tuberculosis may not be applicable to current U.S. cases. We evaluated the factors associated with all-cause mortality in patients with tuberculosis in Washington State. METHODS Using data from the Tuberculosis Information Management System of Washington State, we conducted a cohort study of all residents diagnosed with tubercul...

OBJECTIVES To determine short- and long-term efficacy of modified directly observed therapy (m-DOT) on antiretroviral adherence. DESIGN Randomized controlled trial. SETTING AND ANALYTIC APPROACH: From September 2003 to November 2004, 234 HIV-infected adults were assigned m-DOT (24 weeks of twice weekly health center visits for nurse-observed pill ingestion, adherence support, and medication c...

OBJECTIVES Pharmacokinetic interactions between rifampicin and antiretroviral therapy (ART), including efavirenz, are problematic and need to be better defined to determine proper dose and to be correlated with short-term and long-term clinical outcomes. PATIENTS AND METHODS Consenting patients with smear-positive pulmonary TB and HIV received once daily didanosine + lamivudine + efavirenz (6...

BACKGROUND Using hollow-fiber tuberculosis studies, we recently demonstrated that nonadherence is not a significant factor for ADR and that therapy failure only occurs after a large proportion of doses are missed. Computer-aided clinical trial simulations have suggested that isoniazid and rifampin pharmacokinetic variability best explained poor outcomes. We were interested in determining whethe...