Cost-effectiveness analysis of three short-course anti-tuberculosis programmes compared with a standard regimen in Thailand.

The present study was undertaken to compare the efficacy, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of three short-course regimens with a standard programme for treatment of new tuberculosis (TB) cases. The study was conducted by reviewing the results of TB treatment in 1642 newly diagnosed, sputum positive pulmonary TB patients with four drug regimens carried out in five zonal TB centres throughout Thailand in 1987-1989. Analysis showed that the three-short-course regimens were more cost-effective than the standard regimen from the perspective of both providers and patients. Among the three short-course programmes, isoniazid, rifampicin and pyrazinamide for 2 months, followed by isoniazid and rifampicin twice a week for 4 months was the most cost-effective (US$70.24/effectiveness from providers' perspective and US$103.31/effective from patients' perspective). The result of this study throws some light on the development of new policy options, with scarce health resources, in the treatment of tuberculosis by the National Tuberculosis Programme in Thailand.