Diabetes mellitus affects the treatment outcomes of drug-resistant tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 2 Definitions of treatment outcomes for drug-resistant tuberculosis patients [16]

Treatment outcome	Definition
Cured	Treatment completed as recommended by the national policy without evidence of failure AND three or more consecutive cultures taken at least 30 days apart are negative after the intensive phase.^a
Treatment completed	Treatment completed as recommended by the national policy without evidence of failure BUT no record that three or more consecutive cultures taken at least 30 days apart are negative after the intensive phase.^a
Treatment failed	Treatment terminated or need for permanent regimen change of at least two anti-TB drugs because of: -Lack of conversion^b by the end of the intensive phase^a, or -Bacteriological reversion in the continuation phase after conversion to negative, or -Evidence of additional acquired resistance to fluoroquinolones or second-line injectable drugs, or -Adverse drug reactions (ADRs).
Died	A patient who dies for any reason during the course of treatment.
Lost to follow-up	A patient whose treatment was interrupted for 2 consecutive months or more.
Not evaluated	A patient for whom no treatment outcome is assigned. (This includes cases “transferred out” to another treatment unit and whose treatment outcome is unknown)
Treatment success	The sum of cured and treatment completed.

^a For Treatment failed, lack of conversion by the end of the intensive phase implies that the patient does not convert within the maximum duration of intensive phase applied by the programme. If no maximumduration is defined, an 8-month cut-off is proposed. For regimens without a clear distinction between intensive and continuation phases, a cut-off 8 months after the start of treatment is suggested to determine when the criteria for Cured, Treatment completed and Treatment failed start to apply
^b The terms “conversion” and “reversion” of culture as used here are defined as follows:Conversion (to negative): culture is considered to have converted to negative when two consecutive cultures, taken at least 30 days apart, are found to be negative. In such a case, the specimen collection date of the first negative culture is used as the date of conversion
Reversion (to positive): culture is considered to have reverted to positive when, after an initial conversion, two consecutive cultures, taken at least 30 days apart, are found to be positive. For the purpose of defining Treatment failed, reversion is considered only when it occurs in the continuation phase

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