Prevalence of Tuberculosis and the Determinants of Lose to Follow-Up the Treatment for Tuberculosis Patients in Case of Buno Bedele and Ilu Ababor Zones, Oromia, Ethiopia

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a potentially serious infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs. The bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), that cause tuberculosis are spread from one person to another person through tiny droplets released into the air via coughs and sneezes. The study aimed to investigate the prevalence of tuberculosis and determinants of lose to follow-up from TB treatment. Methods: A retrospective study design is used to analyze the prevalence of tuberculosis and the determinants of lose to follow-up from TB treatment who follow the treatment from 2006 to 2017. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and statistical model. Results: The study showed that among 375 TB patients, who started TB treatments, about 24.8% were lost to follow-up from TB treatment and 75.2% were censored at the end of the study. The median survival time of TB patients was 199 days. The results from the Log rank test showed that marital status, HIV co-infection, diabetes mellitus, cancer, and anemia cases had a significant difference between the survival experiences at a 5% level of significance. The result of the Cox-proportion hazard model showed that age (p- value=0.002; CI: (0.9831144, 0.9962526)), HIV co-infection (p-value=0.016; CI: (1.112293, 2.774715)), and anemia (p-value=0.021; CI: (1.089895, 2.938783)) had a significant effect on tuberculosis patients' lose to follow-up from TB treatment at a 5% level of significance. Conclusion: From 375 patients who started TB treatments, about 24.8% were lost to follow-up from TB treatment, and 75.2% were censored at the end of the study. The median survival time of TB patients was 199 days. The variables marital status, HIV co-infection, diabetes mellitus, cancer, and anemia cases had a significant difference between the survival experiences survival time of TB patients at a 5% level of significance. The result also showed that age, HIV co-infection, and anemia had a significant effect on tuberculosis patients. Keywords: Cox regression, HIV co-infection, TB dropouts, tuberculosis, Log rank