Impact on Patients’ Treatment Outcomes of XpertMTB/RIF Implementation for the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis: Follow-Up of a Stepped-Wedge Randomized Clinical Trial

<div><p>Introduction</p><p>The impact on treatment outcomes of XpertMTB/RIF, a molecular-based test that provides rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) and rifampicin resistance with high accuracy, has not been reported despite its adoption in a few countries. We here report treatment outcomes in a step-wedged cluster randomized trial for patients diagnosed with XpertMTB/RIF compared to patients diagnosed with sputum smear examination in public health facilities in Brazil.</p><p>Methods</p><p>Treatment outcome data were added to the trial database of patients diagnosed from 4 February to 4 October 2012, and crosschecked with data from the national mortality and the drug-resistant TB registers. Treatment outcomes in the intervention (n=2232) and baseline (n=1856) arms were compared using a multilevel regression model.</p><p>Results</p><p>Unfavourable outcomes were frequent in both arms, mainly due to loss to follow-up (16%). Overall unfavourable outcomes were not reduced in the intervention arm (29.6% versus 31.7%, OR=0.93; 95%CI=0.79-1.08). However, the overall TB-attributed death rate was lower in the intervention arm (2.3% vs. 3.8%). Adjusted for HIV status, age group and city, the intervention resulted in a 35% decrease in TB-attributed deaths (OR=0.65, 95%CI=0.44-0.97).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The proportion of patients successfully treated did not increase with Xpert MTB/RIF implementation, with high loss to follow-up rates in both arms. We did observe a 35% reduction in TB-related mortality, which we hypothesize may be explained by less advanced disease among the smear-negative patients diagnosed by Xpert. In conclusion, XpertMTB/RIF introduction did not improve TB treatment outcomes in Brazil.</p><p>Trial Registration</p><p>clinicaltrials.gov <a href="https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01363765?term=NCT01363765&rank=1" target="_blank">NCT01363765</a></p>