Tuberculosis treatment outcomes among tuberculosis/ human immunodeficiency co-infected cases treated under directly observed treatment of short course in Western Ethiopia

A five year (2009 to 2013) retrospective cohort study was conducted to assess the treatment outcome of tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency (HIV) co-infection patients from April to May, 2014 in six randomly selected health institutions providing Directly Observed Treatment, Short-Course (DOTS) program in Western Ethiopia. In the selected health institutions, sputum and blood samples were collected and processed using standard laboratory procedures. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association between treatment outcomes and predictor variables. A total of 201 tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency co-infected patients were involved in the study: 15.9% were cured, 44.8% were treatment completed, 17.4% were died during follow-up, 10.0% were defaulted, and 11.4% transferred out to other health institutions.  The overall treatment success rates in the last five year was 60.7% and the associated predictors were antiretroviral therapy (ART) status, year of treatment, and sputum examination follow up status at second and fifth month. Therefore, actions targeting (sputum follow up and time to start ART for tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency co-infection patient) on these predictors are necessary to improve the treatment success rate.   Key words: Treatment outcome, HIV/TB co-infected, DOTS, Western Ethiopia.