ISSN: 2572-0775
Habtamu Molla Ayele*, Wondwosen Teklesilasie, Abebaye Aragaw, Daniel Molla Melese
Background: Treatment outcome results serve as a proxy of the quality of TB treatment for children in Ethiopia; data on TB treatment outcomes in children are limited. The aim of this study was, therefore, to determine the magnitude of tuberculosis treatment outcomes in children and associated factors in health facilities of Shashemene, Southern Ethiopia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted from January 2016 and December 2021, at Shashemene town, Southern Ethiopia. Using a simple random sampling method, 390 registered TB patients who had known treatment outcomes were selected from the unit TB register logbook. The data was entered to Epi Info version 7 and analyzed using SPSS version 23 the characteristics and the treatment outcomes of patients were summarized using descriptive statistics.
Significant variables at p-value <0.25 in the bivariate analysis were entered to multivariable logistic regression. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to find factors associated with tuberculosis treatment outcomes in children.
Results: Out of 390 children, 201 (51.5%) were females, 138 (35.4%) were under 5 years old, and 373 (95.6%) of them were new cases. Pulmonary smear-negative TB accounted for more than half 213 (54.6%), EPTB accounted for 140 (35.9%) and pulmonary smear-positive TB accounted for 37 (9.5%). The overall treatment success rate was 356 (91.3%). Among 390 patients, 25 (6.4%) were cured, 331 (84.9%) were treatment completed, 14 (3.6%) were lost to follow up, 17 (4.4%) were deaths, and 3 (0.7%) were treatment failures. Age group 5 years-9 years (AOR=0.362, 95% CI (0.138-0.950), 10 years-14 years (AOR=0.354, 95% CI (0.130-0.963), lost to follow up category of TB (AOR=8.166, 95% CI (1.437-46.410), HIV positive sero-status (AOR=5.822, 95% CI (2.009-16.869), and rural residence (AOR=2.390, 95% CI (1.002-5.702) were independently associated with treatment outcomes.
Conclusions: The treatment success rate was above the end TB strategy. The treatment outcome was considerably varied with age, HIV status, and residence of the patient. Young children less than 5 years, HIV co-infected, and those patients with rural residence needs follow-up to reduce poor treatment outcomes among children.