Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26400383›Full record

ArticlePublic health action2015

Reasons for the low bacteriological coverage of tuberculosis reported in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.

N Mngomezulu, D Cameron, S Olorunju, T Luthuli, R Dunbar, P Naidoo

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Public health action, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

N MngomezuluMpumalanga Department of Health, Mpumalanga, South Africa.
D CameronUniversity of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
S OlorunjuMedical Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa.
T LuthuliMpumalanga Department of Health, Mpumalanga, South Africa.
R DunbarDesmond Tutu TB Centre, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
P NaidooDesmond Tutu TB Centre, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

settingPublic sector hospitals and primary health clinics in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa.

objectiveTo determine whether failure to adhere to tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic guidelines (i.e., submit sputum for smear microscopy) contributed to the low bacteriological coverage reported for TB in 2008 in Mpumalanga Province.

methodsWe reviewed clinical records for new pulmonary TB cases at 30 of 118 randomly selected facilities that met the bacteriological coverage target of 80% and 30/87 facilities that did not. Data for hospital and clinic cases were abstracted into case report forms, captured electronically and compared with data from the electronic TB register (ETR). We assessed age, sex, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and facility type as potential confounders for recording of smear microscopy results.

resultsAge, sex and HIV infection did not influence recording of results. In hospitals, 61.8% of pulmonary TB cases had sputum smear results in their clinical records compared to 93.6% at clinics (P < 0.001). Of the 711 cases (30.3%) that did not have smear results in the ETR, 342 (48.1%) did have smear results in their clinical records.

conclusionBoth poor clinical practice (especially in hospitals) and poor record keeping have contributed to the low bacteriological coverage reported. These shortcomings need to be addressed to improve patient care and programme management.

Indexed as

hospitalsmicroscopyprimary care clinicssmear evaluationsmear recording

Identifiers

PMID26400383
PMCPMC4487486

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.