ArticlePublic health action2013
Number of sputum specimens during treatment follow-up of tuberculosis patients: two or one?
Article in Public health action, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- How many sputum samples should be examined during follow-up of tuberculosis patients in Myanmar: two or one?Public health action · 2018Article
- Does research through Structured Operational Research and Training (SORT IT) courses impact policy and practice?Public health action · 2016Article
- Light Emitting Diode Fluorescence Microscopy increased the detection of smear-positives during follow-up of Tuberculosis patients in India: program implications.BMC research notes · 2015Article
- Promoting operational research through fellowships: a case study from the South-East Asia Union Office.Public health action · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
settingNational Institute for Research in Tuberculosis clinics in Chennai and Madurai, India.
objectiveTo examine the pattern of serial smears (negative-negative [NN], negative-positive [NP], positive-negative [PN], positive-positive [PP]) during treatment follow-up of culture-confirmed new smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) patients, and the proportion of culture-negatives in each category.
designWe reviewed the records and extracted follow-up smear (fluorescent microscopy) and culture (Löwenstein-Jensen) results of patients enrolled in clinical trials from January 2000 to August 2012 and treated with the Category I regimen (2EHRZ3/4HR3). Data entry and analysis were performed using EpiData.
resultsAmong 520 patients (176 infected with the human immunodeficiency virus), the proportions of culture-negative patients with NN, discordant (PN or NP) and PP patterns were approximately 98%, 80% and 40%, respectively. The smear-positive culture-negative phenomenon was more frequent in follow-up smear results graded 1+, followed by 2+ and 3+.
conclusionThere is justification for discontinuing the examination of second specimens during treatment follow-up among TB patients. However, a positive result on the first smear needs to be confirmed by a second positive result before making clinical management decisions. The World Health Organization may need to reconsider its recommendation on this issue.
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