Abandonment of tuberculosis treatment in Brazil, 2012-2018: trend and spatiotemporal distribution

Ecological study that analyzes the trend and the spatiotemporal distribution of new cases of tuberculosis (TB) that abandoned treatment in Brazil, notified in the Notifiable Diseases Information System, in the period from 2012 to 2018. For the study of the trend used the Prais-Winsten generalized linear regression model was used and the Moran Global and Local indices for spatial analysis. The mean and median proportion of TB treatment dropout in Brazil was 10.4%. The highest averages of the indicator were concentrated in the Southeast (10.78 ± 1.38), South (10.70 ± 2.94) and North (10.35 ± 1.13), and; in the states of Rondônia (14.35 ± 2.34), Rio Grande do Sul (13.60 ± 4.23) and Rio de Janeiro (12.64 ± 1.73), only Acre and Piauí showed this indicator below 5%. In Brazil, there was a tendency towards stability in the proportion of abandonment of TB treatment, a decrease in the North, Northeast and South regions and only in the Federal District there was growth. There was a heterogeneous and non-random distribution, with five capitals comprising the High-Risk cluster. We conclude that the proportion of TB treatment abandonment in Brazil is above what is acceptable and that the identification of high-risk areas can contribute to the elaboration and strengthening of more specific control actions.