Abstract:
Adherence to Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) treatment is fundamental in reaching the
Healthy People 2020 goal to reduce TB disease to 1.0 per 100,000 populations. This study
examined the completion rates among those who started treatment of LTBI with regimens
containing INH or RIF and identified factors associated with completing treatment for LTBI.
All Lexington Fayette County Health Department (LFCHD) patients who started treatment of
LTBI regimens containing either INH or RIF during July 2012 and estimated to finish the
treatment in April 2014 were studied. LTBI treatment completion rate were described and
compared according to patient socio-demographic and others TB risk factors characteristics
using univariate analysis and logbinomial regression. A total of 110 patients started LTBI
treatment, 76 patients completed the treatment with completion rate 69.1%. RIF had 2.8 times
higher odds of adherence to treatment (CI=1.1, 6.7). People who were born in Asia were
more likely to complete the treatment (44.7%, aRR = 0.12, 95% CI= 1.2, 10.7) and
surprisingly health workers were less likely to finish LTBI treatment. Shorter treatment
increased completion rates. Although the reasons were not clearly identified, family support
could be one of the reasons of a high completion rate. Delivering care door to door by
community health worker (CHW) can be a priority alternative. Greater focus is needed to
health workers by enforcing the policy in health facility.
