Trend and Predictors of Non-Adherence among Tuberculosis Patients Treated on the Directly Observed Treatment in the Upper East Region of Ghana

This paper examines the trend and predictors of TB treatment default in patients treated with the DOTS strategy in Ghana’s Upper East Region. A matched case control study design was employed using record review and survey approaches in secondary data collection which includes sample size of 112 respondents, 56 cases of TB treatment non-adherent and 56 controls (TB treatment adherents. Multistage sampling technique was used in selecting the districts. The study collected primary and secondary data. Patients’ records were reviewed using data extraction sheets. The review gathered data on the trend of TB treatment default from 2016 to 2020. Primary data on factors predicting non-adherence to TB treatment were gathered from 2018 to 2020 using a structured questionnaire and analysed using STATA 16.0. The odds ratios were first calculated manually in excel and the values was confirmed using Mentel-Haenzel analyses at ˂0.05 level of significance and 95% confidence interval the results reveals the highest of 43.7% of TB defaulters among patients between ages 34-44 years in 2016 and 27.3% between the ages (44-45) as well as (27.3%) between the age (45-54) in 2017.While male defaulters increased from (2016 -2017) by 30.2% a Female defaulters increased from 10.7% to 25.0% in (2016 -2017) and maintained the prevalence of 25.0% in 2018. The highest prevalence (45.2%) of TB defaulters was from the Bolgatanga Municipality in 2017 and 35.7% in 2018. TB patients whose parents or family members were responsible for deciding where to seek healthcare were at increased risk of defaulting TB treatments [(ORMH=2.5, 95% CI: 1.04, 6.56), p=0.04].