High mortality among patients with tuberculosis accessing primary care facilities: secondary analysis from an open-label cluster-randomised trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tuberculosis (TB) mortality remains persistently high, despite global TB control efforts. The aim of this study was to assess if a quality improvement (QI) intervention reduced deaths in TB patients accessing primary healthcare (PHC) services.

Methods

In this pre specified secondary analysis of a cluster-randomized controlled study conducted in 2016-2018 in South Africa (Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02654613), we compared 18-month case-fatality rates among newly diagnosed TB patients irrespective of HIV status randomized to clinics receiving the QI intervention and standard of care (SOC) [(eight clusters and 20 clinics per arm)]. Statistical inferences used a t-test from a two-stage approach recommended for cluster-randomized trials with fewer than 15 clusters pe

SUBMITTER: Naidoo K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11957806 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature