Abstract
Background Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DRTB) is becoming a global public health problem in developing country including Ethiopia. It poses a greater challenge to the tuberculosis control program. Tuberculosis drugs namely; rifampicin and isoniazid, were the two most effective anti-tuberculosis drugs for which the agent become resistant. Understanding the survival time and the predictors of DRTB patients would be helpful to policy-makers and health practitioners in Ethiopia. However, there is a limited previous study on the aspect. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the survival time and predictors of adult DRTB patients, in Eastern and East-Central Ethiopia.Methods A retrospective follow-up study was conducted in the Eastern and East-Central part of Ethiopia among adult drug resistance-tuberculosis patients from 1st September 2012 to 30th August 2017. The checklist was used to retrieve information among a total of 362 drug-resistant tuberculosis patients. Kaplan Meier curve method was used to estimate the median survival time with its interquartile range and risks. Multivariable Cox proportional regression modelling was used to investigating predictors of survival time. Hazard ratio with 95% CI was used to report the findings of regression modelling.Result A total of 362 participants were followed for 132,801 person day observation. During the follow-up period, there were 55 deaths with the overall incidence rate of 4 participants per 10,000-person day observation (95%CI: 3.18, 5.39). DRTB related death was higher among patients who had weight loss (AHRa: 9.0, 95%CI:2, 20.5), pulmonary with extra-pulmonary DRTB (AHR:10, 95% CI:3.3, 16), HIV co-infection (AHR:4, 95%CI:2.1,7.5) and comorbidity (AHR:4.40, 95% CI:1.7, 11), patients with BMI<18.5 (AHR:0.22, 95% CI:0.076, 0.63) were less likely to die of MDR-TB. BMI<18.5 patients with a history of relapse (AHR: 4.2, 95% CI: 1.9, 9) and after the failure of re-treatment (AHR: 6.3, 95%CI: 2.6, 13) were predictors of DRTB death.Conclusion To summarize, the survival time of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis was low. DRTB related death was higher among patients with weight loss, people with extra-pulmonary, HIV co-infection, comorbidity, and history of relapse.