Follow-up of patients discharged against medical advice in tuberculous meningitis studies in children

A total of 395 TB meningitis patients were admitted for treatment comprising regimens containing Rifampicin with and without Pyrazinamide. Of these, 50 patients were discharged against medical advice before completing the prescribed therapy, most being too sick and put on dangerously ill list. On follow-up, all such patients were found to have died. Discharges due to other reasons like migration, economic and domestic problems etc., were low, i.e., 6%. Drop out of patients, thus, was not a serious problem in TB meningitis studies despite the fact that 62% of the patients were from outside Madras City. This was possible due to the initial and periodic motivation of the patients