Research Article
Uzma Saleem, Saeed Mahmood,
Abstract
Objective: Thestudy objective was to find out the cause of non-compliance towards tuberculosis therapy in patients. Method:A self-designed questionnaire containing all the anticipated causes of non-compliance with anti-TB therapy and demographic information (age, gender) was prepared as study tool and tested by interviewing the patients. Results: The major cause of non-compliance towards DOTS is less awareness that adherence with therapy is very important for complete cure (34.38%). Other causes in descending order are as follows: big size of tablets (31.25 %), side effects of the drugs (18.75 %), and use of complementary and alternative medicines (15.62 %). Conclusion: Lack of patient’s awareness regarding complete adherence with DOTS therapy is one of the major cause of failure of giving T.B. free zone to the population. It is concluded that patients education regarding strict adherence with therapy is compulsory in order to control the epidemic of tuberculosis.