Tuberculosis impacts multiple aspects in quality of life in a Romanian cohort of drug-susceptible and drug resistant patients: A patient-reported outcome measures study.

BACKGROUND

Tuberculosis (TB), and especially its drug resistant forms, is responsible for not only significant mortality, but also considerable morbidity, still under-quantified. This study used four Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS) to assess the status of persons affected by drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB during their TB treatment or after treatment completion, in Romania, the highest TB burden country in the EU.

METHODS

People affected by TB in two different regions in Romania were included during and after treatment, following a cross-sectional design. PROMs used were SF-36, EQ-5D-5L, WPAI and the app-based audiometry screening tool 'uHear.' Descriptive statistics and relevant statistical tests were used to compare groups between themselves and with the general Romanian population.

RESULTS

Both patients with drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB experience, with drug-resistant patients experiencing statistically significantly more pain and hearing loss. PROMs show some improvement in the after-treatment group; however, compared with the general Romanian population for which data were available, all groups scored lower on all outcome measures.

CONCLUSION

PROMs offer the possibility of obtaining a more comprehensive view of patients' status, by involving them directly in the medical process and could guide a rehabilitation strategy.