SUPERVISED AND SELF-ADMINISTERED TREATMENTS: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE PROPORTIONS OF HEALING, ABANDONMENT AND DEATH BY TUBERCULOSIS IN JOÃO PESSOA, PB

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the proportions of healing, abandonment and death by tuberculosis in João Pessoa, PB, and to compare these rates according to the type of treatment instituted: supervised or self-administered. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study with quantitative data retrieved from the Information System for Notifiable Diseases in the period 2007-2009. The sample consisted of 786 cases undergoing one of the two treatment modalities (supervised and self-administered). These data were compared regarding the rates of healing, abandonment and death by tuberculosis. The Hypothesis Test for Equality of Proportions was carried out on the R console version 2.10.1, with a significance level of 5%. This research followed ethical requirements and was approved by the Research Ethics Committee at the Lauro Wanderley University Hospital, Federal University of Paraíba, under protocol n. 033/10. Results: The proportions of healing decreased and those of abandonment and death by tuberculosis increased. Most patients underwent self-administrated treatment (64.7%). Although there were better proportions of healing, abandonment and death for the patients undergoing selfadministered treatment, these differences were not significant (p-value>0.05), resulting in rates statistically equivalents. Conclusions: It is necessary to intensify the actions targeting the consolidation of the supervised treatment as a strategy to increase healing rates and decrease abandonment and death cases by tuberculosis. DESCRIPTORS; Public Health. Tuberculosis. Comparative Study.