Treatment outcomes and adverse drug reactions among patients with drug–resistant tuberculosis receiving all-oral, long–term regimens: First record viewing report from Pakistan

Objective: To assess the effectiveness and adverse drug reactions of all-oral regimens for patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at 10 Programmatic Management of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis sites in Punjab province of Pakistan. Patients receiving treatment for drug resistant tuberculosis from July 2019 to December 2020 with at least interim result i.e. 6th month culture conversion or final outcomes (cured, complete, lost to follow-up, failure, death) available, were included in the study. Data was extracted from electronic data management system. For the reporting and management of adverse drug events, active tuberculosis drug safety monitoring and management was implemented across all sites. All the data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: Out of 947 drug resistant tuberculosis patients included in this study, 579 (68%) of the patients had final outcomes available. Of these, 384 (67.9%) successfully completed their treatment. Out of 368 (32%) patients who had their interim results available, all had their 6th month culture negative. Combining new medications was thought to result in serious adverse outcomes such as QT prolongation. However, this study did not record any severe adverse events among patients. Conclusions: All-oral regimens formulation guided by overall treatment effectiveness resulted in treatment outcomes comparable to those obtained with traditional injectable treatment.