Demographic Characteristics Associated with Missed Follow-Up Appointments among Tuberculosis Patients at Hospital Shah Alam, Selangor: A Retrospective Study from January to June 2023

Authors

  • Ahmad Zhafir Zulkfli@Zulkifli MOH
  • Rabiatul Adawiyah Md Salleh
  • Nur Farha Omar

Keywords:

Tuberculosis, Defaulter, Treatment, Loss to follow-up, Missed appoinment

Abstract

Introduction:

Tuberculosis (TB) patients default their treatment during the treatment course. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the demographic characteristics of the patient who missed follow-ups and identify the reasons for missed appointments or defaulted their treatment.

Methods:

The records of patients diagnosed with TB follow-up at the chest clinic from January to June 2023 were reviewed based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results:

The retrospective descriptive analysis was conducted based on the data collected. Based on the study sample (n=33), the result shows that the majority of the defaulted patients were male in gender (n=22). Most of the missed appointments patients and defaulters are of Malay (39.4%) ethnicity and Malaysian nationality (66.7%). Most patients gave the transport issues as the reason for missed appointments followed by financial issues and feeling healthy. The majority of them missed follow-up in the first month after starting anti-TB.

Conclusions:

In conclusion, missed appointments, treatment compliance and defaulted cases in TB treatment remain as one of the main challenges in the effort to end TB epidemics. Further in-depth research is required to propose effective measures to solve this issue and improve the national TB control program.

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Published

2024-03-04

How to Cite

Zulkfli@Zulkifli, A. Z., Md Salleh, R. A., & Omar, N. F. (2024). Demographic Characteristics Associated with Missed Follow-Up Appointments among Tuberculosis Patients at Hospital Shah Alam, Selangor: A Retrospective Study from January to June 2023. International Journal of Public Health Research, 14(1), 1858–1864. Retrieved from https://spaj.ukm.my/ijphr/index.php/ijphr/article/view/468

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2024): International Journal of Public Health Research

Section

Public Health Research

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Ahmad Zhafir Zulkfli@Zulkifli, Rabiatul Adawiyah Md Salleh, Nur Farha Omar

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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