OBJECTIVES: Treatment interruption is associated with poor tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcomes and increased drug resistance. To address the issue, we aimed to investigate the characteristics, predictors and consequences of treatment interruption.
METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study by retrieving 4 years (2018-2021) of TB patients' records at 10 public health clinics in Sarawak, Malaysia. Adult patients (≥18 years) with drug-susceptible TB were selected. Treatment interruption was defined as ≥2 weeks of cumulative interruption during treatment. The Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards regression were used to analyse the data, with p
* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.