Treatment outcomes of patients with drug-sensitive tuberculosis under community-based versus facility-based directly observed treatment, short course strategy in Southwest Ethiopia: a prospective cohort study

Objective: To compare tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcomes and associated factors among patients attending community-based versus facility-based directly observed treatment, short course (DOTS). Design: A prospective cohort study. Setting: The study was conducted in Southwest Ethiopia. There were seven hospitals (five primary, one general and one specialised), 120 health centres and 494 health posts. Participants: A total of 1161 individuals consented to participate in the study (387 patients under community-based DOTS (CB-DOTS) and 774 patients under facility-based DOTS (FB-DOTS)). Individuals who could not respond to the questions, mentally or critically ill patients, and those less than 15 years old, were excluded from the study. Primary outcome measure: TB treatment outcomes were compared among patients under CB-DOTS versus FB-DOTS. Risk ratio (RR), risk difference (RD) and confidence interval (CI) were calculated among the study groups. In addition, χ2 or Fisher’s exact tests were used to compare group differences, with a p value of