Symptom experience of adverse drug reaction among male and female patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis in Thailand.

Background: Patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis often suffer from adverse drug reaction symptoms, which leads to the automatic discontinuation of anti-tuberculosis drugs. Thus, understanding symptom experience of adverse drug reactions is necessary. Objective: This study aimed to examine differences in symptoms experienced in four dimensions: presence, frequency, severity, and distress of adverse drug reactions, between male and female patients. Methods: This was a quantitative survey with a cross-sectional design, with data collected between January and April 2020. A total of 394 patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis was selected through a purposive sampling technique. The symptom experiences of adverse drug reactions were measured using a validated instrument. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and independent t-test. Results: The most commonly reported symptom was itchiness (24.1% in males and 34.9% in females). Vomiting occurred as the most frequent symptom among males ( Conclusion: Females taking anti-tuberculosis drugs should be carefully monitored to deal with adverse drug reaction symptoms. This finding would help to decrease the severity of disease and improve their quality of life.