Did Financial Social Support for Tuberculosis Patients Lead to Better Treatment Outcomes in Türkiye during 2018-2019?

Abstract

This study examined which factors, including the regular financial social support program, influence tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcomes and success rates. Patients with TB registered during 2018-2019 were included in this retrospective cohort study. We classified them into 2 groups: those who received financial support for at least one month, and those who did not. Of the 22,867 sampled patients, 5,033 received financial social support and 17,834 did not. The success rate was 11.9% higher among patients who received financial social support than among those who did not (97.34% versus 85.40%). After controlling for other factors, the success rate among all patients was 1.3 times higher for female, 2.6 times higher for those under 50 years, 1.5 times higher for extra-pulmonary TB, 1.5 times higher for a new case, 5.9 times higher for drug susceptible TB, and 5.8 times higher for those who received financial support. Crucially, this is the first study from Türkiye evaluating the effect of a regular financial social support program on TB treatment outcomes since the program began in 2018. We recommend regular financial support for patients with TB in all countries.