Objective: To measure the impact on patient adherence to directly observed ambulatory tuberculosis treatment of substituting an all-oral regimen for one containing streptomycin.
Methods: The attendance of patients during the intensive phase of treatment was measured daily at two outpatient clinics. During the observation period, treatment was changed from one containing stretptomycin to an all-oral regimen and attendance proportions were compared when patients always, sometimes or never received streptomycin during their treatment.
Results: No significant difference was observed in attendance between periods when patients received streptomycin and when they were given an all-oral regimen.
Conclusions: Patient adherence to a completely oral regimen was indistinguishable from that when streptomycin was used. Clear advantages in reduced cost, time and danger of nosocomial HIV infection are obvious with the all-oral regimen.
