Tuberc Respir Dis.  1987 Jun;34(2):137-143. 10.4046/trd.1987.34.2.137.

Relapse Rates within One Year after the Completion of Treatment with Short Course Cemotherapy for Pulmonary Tuberculosis Under Programme Conditions

• KMID: 2528657
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1987.34.2.137

Abstract

The relapse rate within one year after the completion of a six-month regimen (2HERZ/4HER) with initial two months supplementation of pyrazinamide was compared with that of the current 9 month regimen (9HER). A total of 673 microscopy positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients were admitted and randomly allocated to each regimen (351 to 9HER and 322 to 2HERZ/ 4HER) at 13 Health Centres in the Chunchongbuk-do province during the period of one year and three months from October 1983 through December 1984. 18 patients were excluded from main analyses, because of various pretreatment conditions. Seventy-five (22.0%) of 341 9HER patients and 57(18.2%) of 314 2HERZ/ 4HER had dropped out because of various reasons. 1n 9HER regimen, 255 patients (74.8%) attained a bacteriologically favourable status and .4 (1.2%) failed. The results were not available in 7 patients(2.1% ) due to lack of fol1ow-up examinations toward the end of the treatment. And in 2HERZ/4HER, 248 patients (79.0%) achieved a bacteriological1y favourable response, 1(0.3%) failed and 8(2.5%) were unknown. Out of those who achieved a bacteriologically favourable status, 12 have bacteriological1y relapsed in 9HER and 9 in 2HERZ/4HER within one year after the termination of the short course regimens. The relapse rates calculated by Life Table Method were 5.3% and 4.3% in 9HER and 2HERZ/ 4HER respectively. There was no significant difference in relapse rates between the two groups (p > 0.05). It was concluded that the efficiency of the six-month short course regimen so far would be similar to the nine-month regimen.