ArticlePublic health action2020
How much do Indians pay for tuberculosis treatment? A cost analysis.
Article in Public health action, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Barriers That Interfere with Access to Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment across Countries Globally: A Systematic Review.ACS infectious diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness of in-kind nutritional support for impoverished persons with tuberculosis to reduce mortality and disengagement from care in India: a modelling study.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- In-kind Nutritional Supplementation for Persons With Drug-susceptible Tuberculosis and Their Household Contacts Would be Cost-effective for Reducing Tuberculosis Incidence and Mortality in Jharkhand, India: A Modeling Study.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Article
- Tuberculosis- learning about experience with nutritional supplementation (TB LENS): Perspectives on a nutritional supplementation for persons with TB and their household contacts.Global public health · 2025Article
- Enriching tuberculosis research by measuring poverty better: a perspective.BMC global and public health · 2025Review
- TB stigma in India: A narrative review of types of stigma, gender differences, and potential interventions.PLOS global public health · 2025Review
- Cost of TB care and equity in distribution of catastrophic TB care costs across income quintiles in India.Global health research and policy · 2024Article
- Estimating the health and macroeconomic burdens of tuberculosis in India, 2021-2040: A fully integrated modelling study.PLoS medicine · 2024Article
- Out-of-pocket payment and catastrophic health expenditure of tuberculosis patients in accessing care at public-private mix clinics in Myanmar, 2022.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2024Article
- Clearing the air: microcosting the carbon impact of drug-susceptible pulmonary TB treatment.The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease · 2024Article
- Averting catastrophic tuberculosis costs in an Indian state: integration of Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka with National Tuberculosis Elimination Program.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2024Review
- Nutritionally acquired immunodeficiency must be addressed with the same urgency as HIV to end tuberculosis.BMC global and public health · 2024Review
- Cost of inaction: a framework to estimate the economic cost of missing a patient with tuberculosis in the Indian context.BMJ open · 2023Article
- New tuberculosis vaccines in India: modelling the potential health and economic impacts of adolescent/adult vaccination with M72/AS01BMC medicine · 2023Article
- A micro-costing analysis of nutritional support for persons with TB and their families in India.Public health action · 2023Article
- Living with tuberculosis: a qualitative study of patients' experiences with disease and treatment.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Mitigating costs for people living with TB: from measurement to action.Public health action · 2020Article
- Determination of Direct and Indirect Costs Incurred by Tuberculosis Patients During Diagnosis and Treatment in Urban Areas of South Gujarat: A Mixed Method Approach.Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social MedicineArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
settingIndia's National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) covers diagnostic and therapeutic costs of TB treatment. However, persons living with TB (PLWTB) continue to experience financial distress due to direct costs (payment for testing, treatment, travel, hospitalization, and nutritional supplements) and indirect costs (lost wages, loan interest, and cost of domestic helpers).
objectiveTo analyze the magnitude and pattern of TB-related costs from the perspective of Indian PLWTB.
designWe identified relevant articles using key search terms ('tuberculosis,' 'India,' 'cost,' 'expenditures,' 'financing,' 'catastrophic' and 'out of pocket') and calculated variance-weighted mean costs.
resultsIndian patients incur substantial direct costs (mean: US$46.8). Mean indirect costs (US$666.6) constitute 93.4% of the net costs. Mean direct costs before diagnosis can be up to four-fold that of costs during treatment. Treatment in the private sector can result in costs up to six-fold higher than in government facilities. As many as one in three PLWTB in India experience catastrophic costs.
conclusionPLWTB in India face high direct and indirect costs. Priority interventions to realize India's goal of eliminating catastrophic costs from TB include decreasing diagnostic delays through active case finding, reducing the need for travel, improving awareness and perception of NTEP services, and ensuring sufficient reimbursement for inpatient TB care.
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Registered trials
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.