Abstract:
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is chronic infectious disease contributed to morbidity and
mortality of 9.6 and 1.5 million people worldwide respectively. Despite increased burden of
death, time to death and its predictors among patients with TB not researched in the study area.
Objectives: To determine Survival status and identify its predictors among patients with TB in
Hosanna, Southern Ethiopia, 2010-2015.
Methods: Retrospective cohort design was employed among patients treated for TB in Nigist
Eleni Mohammad Memorial Hospital and Hosanna Health center located in Hosanna, Southern
Ethiopia. Statistically determined 423 subjects were included in this study. Person-days time
scale was used to measure survival time from treatment initiation until death or censoring
occurred. Kaplan–Meier curves and log-rank test were used to assess survival time. Cox
regression model was used to identify predictors of death. The 95% CI of Hazard ratio (HR) with
corresponding P-value <0.05 were set to declare significance. Data was entered to Epi-Data 3.1
and exported to STATA 12.0 for analysis.
Result: Total of 423 TB patients were followed for 70608 Person-days. The mean survival time
of the cohort was 269.8 Person-days. Out of the cohort 379(89.6%) patients survived to the entire
6 months follow up period. There were 44(10.4%) known deaths recorded in the follow up
period. Incidence of death was 6.23 (95% CI 4.6, 8.3) per 10,000 Person-days. Majority,
27(61.4%) of deaths occurred within 30 days. Survival time significantly vary across status of
TB/HIV co-infection (P<0.001), History of previous treatment (P=0.02), Residence (P<0.001)
and weight change (P<0.001). TB/HIV co-infection (AHR =4.6, 95% CI: 2.41, 8.93, P<0.001)
Previous history of treatment (AHR =4.8, 95% CI: 1.26, 18.59, P<0.001), Residence (AHR =3.1,
95% CI: 1.61, 6.21, P<0.001) and weight change (AHR=0.814 95% CI: 0.77, 0.85, P<0.001)
were predictors of death.
Conclusion: Low survival time and higher incidence of deaths noted in this study. The
existing treatment program should be strongly strengthened to reduce death during treatment.
