Deaths attributed to multiple causes and involving tuberculosis in the state of Rio de Janeiro Brazil between 1999 and 2001

Social, demographic, health care and co-morbidity predictors of tuberculosis mortality in Amazonas, Brazil: a multiple cause of death approach

OBJECTIVES

Estimate TB mortality rates, catalogue multiple causes on death certificates in which TB was reported and identify predictors of TB from reporting on death certificates in the State of Amazonas, Brazil, based on a multiple cause of death approach.

METHODS

The death records of residents in the Amazonas state between 2006-2014 were analyzed and separated into three categories: TB not reported on the death certificate (TBNoR), TB reported as the underlying cause of death (TBUC) and TB reported as an associated cause of death (TBAC). Age standardized annual mortality rates for TBUC, TBAC and with TB reported (TBUC plus TBAC) were estimated for the State of Amazonas using the direct standardization method and World Health Organization 2000-2025 standard population. Mortality odds ratios (OR) for reporting of TBUC and TBAC were estimated using multinomial logistic regression.

RESULTS

Age standardized annual TBUC and TBAC mortality rates ranged between 5.9-7.8/105 and 2.7-4.0/105, respectively. TBUC was associated with being a resident in the State capital (OR = 0.66), of female gender (OR = 0.87), having an education level of 8 to 11, or 12 or more school years (OR = 0.67 and 0.50 respectively), non-white race/skin color (OR = 1.38) and place of death reported as in the State capital (OR = 1.69). TBAC was related to the triennium in which death occurred (OR = 1.21 and 1.22 for the years 2009-2011 and 2012-2014 respectively), age (OR = 36.1 and 16.5 for ages 15-39 and 40-64 years respectively) and when death occurred in the State capital (OR = 5.8).

CONCLUSIONS

TBUC was predominantly associated with predictors of unfavorable socioeconomic conditions and health care access constraints, whereas TBAC was mainly related to ages which were typical of high HIV disease incidence.

Death in patients with tuberculosis and diabetes: Associated factors

AIMS

Identify factors associated with death in patients with tuberculosis and diabetes.

METHOD

The descriptive - analytic epidemiologic study using secondary data of tuberculosis cases reported in TBWEB from 1996 to 2014 is used. The profile analysis of the variables in relation to death controlled by the cure of the patients was performed by the software R, the independent variables that could be associated with the dependent variable in a 20% significance level, using the chi-square test. The analysis was performed on an unconditional logistic regression model. Odds ratio (OR) adjusted measures were obtained in order to evaluate the strength of association between independent variables.

RESULTS

Looking into the database TBWEB, from 1996 to 2014, 5361 cases of TB were reported, and from these cases, 4447 contained information about the closure and were complete. Patients with TB and DM represented 306 cases (6.35%). In relation to death, protective factors were: diabetes with OR: 0.69; follow up received during the treatment of medium and high complexity services, with OR: 0.51 and the other type with OR: 0.56.

CONCLUSION

Diabetes appeared as a protective factor for death in patients with tuberculosis in this study. The development of studies like this allows the expansion of knowledge on the TB-DM association.

[What are the causes of death of patients with tuberculosis: multiple causes of death in a cohort of cases and a research proposal of presumed causes]

The objective of this study was to analyze the multiple causes of death in a cohort of patients with tuberculosis (TB) and to introduce an investigation proposal death for TB from a list of presumable causes. We performed a probabilistic record linkage with the databases of the Information System for Notifiable Diseases (SINAN) 2006 and the Mortality Information System (SIM) 2006-2008. There were 825 deaths, of which 23% for death for TB, deaths due to TB with 16% and 61% without mention of TB. Two hundred and fifteen (42.7%) deaths occurred within the period of treatment, whose profile differed from the pattern of causes when TB was an associated cause, with high frequency of respiratory diseases, AIDS and ill-defined causes. We elaborated a proposal for correction of associated causes of death and an investigation proposal death for TB from a list of presumable causes. According to the proposal, 26 deaths could have modified the underlying cause. This study highlights the importance of record linkage to TB surveillance and improvement of information the SIM and SINAN.

Association of diabetes and tuberculosis: impact on treatment and post-treatment outcomes

Objective

To determine the clinical consequences of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods

We conducted a prospective study of patients with TB in Southern Mexico. From 1995 to 2010, patients with acid-fast bacilli or Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum samples underwent epidemiological, clinical and microbiological evaluation. Annual follow-ups were performed to ascertain treatment outcome, recurrence, relapse and reinfection.

Results

The prevalence of DM among 1262 patients with pulmonary TB was 29.63% (n=374). Patients with DM and pulmonary TB had more severe clinical manifestations (cavities of any size on the chest x-ray, adjusted OR (aOR) 1.80, 95% CI 1.35 to 2.41), delayed sputum conversion (aOR 1.51, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.10), a higher probability of treatment failure (aOR 2.93, 95% CI 1.18 to 7.23), recurrence (adjusted HR (aHR) 1.76, 95% CI 1.11 to 2.79) and relapse (aHR 1.83, 95% CI 1.04 to 3.23). Most of the second episodes among patients with DM were caused by bacteria with the same genotype but, in 5/26 instances (19.23%), reinfection with a different strain occurred.

Conclusions

Given the growing epidemic of DM worldwide, it is necessary to add DM prevention and control strategies to TB control programmes and vice versa and to evaluate their effectiveness. The concurrence of both diseases potentially carries a risk of global spreading, with serious implications for TB control and the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Proposal for tuberculosis death surveillance in information systems

OBJECTIVE

To propose a tuberculosis-related death surveillance strategy based on the Brazilian Mortality Information System.

METHODS

Data on 55 tuberculosis-related deaths, which occurred in two large hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil, between September 2005 and August 2006, were obtained from the SIM. These cases were searched and compared with cases in the National Notification System (Sinan). The increment in the number of notifications and completeness of data were evaluated, as well as entry type and outcome in Sinan.

RESULTS

Of the 55 deaths, 28 were registered in Sinan. Comparison between systems allowed for the following corrections: 27 new cases were notified, 14 new notifications performed by the hospitals where death occurred and ten outcomes corrected. This represented an increment of 41/144 (28%) notifications by these two hospitals in 2006. Nine cases, previously classified as unconfirmed tuberculosis were reclassified as bacteriologically confirmed, and another five cases were reclassified from tuberculosis to AIDS as the primary cause of death.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed surveillance system for tuberculosis-related death was useful to increase data completeness, decrease under-notification and cases with unknown outcome, to evaluate epidemiological surveillance and death certificate quality and to trace previously unidentified contacts.

Risk factors associated with death in patients who initiate treatment for tuberculosis after two different follow-up periods

INTRODUCTION: Mortality from tuberculosis, which should be a rare event, still affects a large portion of the population of developing countries. In this context, Recife, a city in the northeast of Brazil where this study was developed, has the highest tuberculosis mortality rates of the Brazilian capitals. OBJECTIVE: To analyze survival probability and identify risk factors for death from tuberculosis in a cohort of patients living in Recife who started treatment for tuberculosis. METHODOLOGY: A cohort of newly diagnosed TB cases was followed up from the beginning of treatment (in 2001-2003) until June 2007. Survival probability was estimated by Kaplan-Meier method; and Cox Regression analysis was used to identify risk factors. RESULTS: At the end of the follow-up period, the survival probability after beginning TB treatment was 95.9%. Older ages, positivity for HIV and late initial treatment were statistically associated with death from TB in one year follow-up. When the analysis was done considering the total period of follow-up, older ages, positivity serology for HIV, late initial treatment, weight loss, and history of previous treatment remained in the multivariate Cox regression model. CONCLUSION: A more comprehensive analysis, specifically for deaths from tuberculosis as the underlying and non-underlying cause, allowed identification of a greater number of predictive factors that would otherwise not be detected if follow-up had lasted only until the end of treatment. These results can guide feasible interventions for health services aiming to reduce case-fatality from tuberculosis.

[Characterization of tuberculosis among HIV/AIDS patients at a referral center in Mato Grosso do Sul]

Tuberculosis was investigated regarding its clinical presentation, treatment outcome and sociodemographic profile among HIV patients attended at a referral center in Mato Grosso do Sul, in 2003-2005. Sixty-six medical files on patients over 14 years of age and data from the Brazilian National Information System for Notifiable Diseases relating to tuberculosis and from the Mortality Information System were analyzed. Most of the patients were male, white, of low schooling level and from urban areas. Increased extrapulmonary clinical presentation was found and it correlated with the degree of immunological competence. The main reasons for ceasing treatment were cure (reached after longer-than-expected follow-up) and death (of six patients at the beginning of the tuberculosis treatment). Information gaps were found in the tuberculosis notification records and medical files. The study revealed the need for early diagnosis of tuberculosis among HIV-positive patients, improvements in medical records and follow-up beyond the recommended duration, because of changes to the clinical evolution of tuberculosis in cases of comorbidity with HIV.

Treatment at scale in Brazil: a physician's perspective

In 1996, Brazil became the first developing country to provide universal access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), based on a strategy that utilizes an individualized approach to treatment and an open formulary. At the time, the number of patients in need of treatment was less than 15% of what it is today, there were six approved drugs for the treatment of HIV infection (compared with 25 today), and the life expectancy of patients was measured in months and years, not in decades. In recent years, preventable and treatable conditions such as cardiovascular diseases increased significantly faster as causes of death among HIV-infected individuals than in the general population. In the near future there will be a substantial increase in the number of patients in need of therapy and in the number of patients using more complex regimens who also have co-morbidities that impact prognosis. Brazil will thus need to expand its network of treatment facilities, increase its capacity to manage more complex clinical conditions, and decide on the proper balance of sophistication that will be required. As the Brazilian scientific output is not commensurate with its successes in the treatment and prevention of HIV infection, there is little empirical basis to inform decisions on how best to allocate finite resources. The Brazilian response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, universal access to ART in particular, is an example to other developing countries. The Brazilian experience also shows that operational research should be an integral part of programmes of access to treatment, if their long-term sustainability is to be ensured.