The Impact of HIV Status and Antiretroviral Treatment on TB Treatment Outcomes of New Tuberculosis Patients Attending Co-located TB and ART Services in South Africa: a Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: The implementation of collaborative TB-HIV services is challenging. We, therefore, assessed TB treatment outcomes in relation to HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy (ART) among TB patients attending a primary care service with co-located ART and TB clinics in Cape Town, South Africa.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, all new TB patients aged ≥ 15 years who registered and initiated TB treatment between 1 October 2009 and 30 June 2011 were identified from an electronic database. The effects of HIV-infection and ART on TB treatment outcomes were analysed using a multinomial logistic regression model, in which treatment success was the reference outcome.

Results: The 797 new TB patients included in the analysis were categorized as follows: HIV- negative, in 325 patients (40.8 %); HIV-positive on ART, in 339 patients (42.5 %) and HIV-positive not on ART, in 133 patients (16.7 %). Overall, bivariate analyses showed no significant difference in death and default rates between HIV-positive TB patients on ART and HIV-negative patients. Statistically significant higher mortality rates were found among HIV-positive patients not on ART compared to HIV-negative patients (unadjusted odds ratio (OR) 3.25; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.53-6.91). When multivariate analyses were conducted, the only significant difference between the patient categories on TB treatment outcomes was that HIV-positive TB patients not on ART had significantly higher mortality rates than HIV-negative patients (adjusted OR 4.12; 95 % CI 1.76-9.66). Among HIV-positive TB patients (n = 472), 28.2 % deemed eligible did not initiate ART in spite of the co-location of TB and ART services. When multivariate analyses were restricted to HIV-positive patients in the cohort, we found that being HIV-positive not on ART was associated with higher mortality (adjusted OR 7.12; 95 % CI 2.95-18.47) and higher default rates (adjusted OR 2.27; 95 % CI 1.15-4.47).

Conclusions: There was no significant difference in death and default rates between HIV-positive TB patients on ART and HIV negative TB patients. Despite the co-location of services 28.2 % of 472 HIV-positive TB patients deemed eligible did not initiate ART. These patients had a significantly higher death and default rates.