The effectiveness of pulmonary tuberculosis treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic

<bold>Introduction:</bold> On March 16, 2020, a quarantine was declared in Uzbekistan and restrictions began to be introduced, one of which was a ban on people over 65 years of age being in public places. <bold>The aim:</bold> is to study the effectiveness of pulmonary TB treatment in the group over 65 years of age during the COVID-19 pandemic. <bold>Study method:</bold> Retrospective analytical study included data from 222 outpatient cards of patients over 65 years of age with pulmonary TB, registered in TB dispensaries in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in March-December 2019-2020-2021. <bold>Study results:</bold> The number of identified cases in the group of patients with pulmonary TB over 65 years of age decreased by 34.8% in 2020 and by 23.9% in 2021 compared to 2019. Among patients with drug-sensitive (DS) TB, a decrease of successful treatment outcomes (cured+treatment completed) was detected by 6.1% in 2020 and by 16.8% in 2021 compared to 2019. There was unsuccessful outcomes such treatment failed+deaths an increased by 8.4% in 2020 and 12.2% in 2021 and lost to follow-up+not evaluated an increased by 4.6% in 2021 compared to 2019. In a cohort with drug-resistant (DR) TB an increase successful treatment outcomes cases from 47.1% in 2019 to 80.0% in 2020 and a decrease treatment failed+deaths cases from 41.2% in 2019 to 20.0% in 2020 was detected. Though in this cohort group in 2019 and 2021 there was increase lost to follow-up+not evaluated cases from 11.8% to 33.3%. <bold>Conclusion:</bold> The study demonstrated the vulnerability of patients over 65 years of age during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was determined by a decrease the frequency of successful treatment outcomes in DS patients, and an increase the frequency of unfavorable outcomes in both DS and DR patients.

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