Association between antiretroviral therapy and antitubercular drug resistance in TB treatment outcome among Kazakh TB/HIV co-infected patients

Abstract Objectives Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) poses a serious threat to public health in Kazakhstan. This paper presents findings related to TB treatment outcome and drug resistance status among people co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and TB in Kazakhstan. Methods A cohort study using data provided by the Kazakhstan Ministry of Health’s National Tuberculosis Program for 2014 and 2015 was performed. The χ 2 test and logistical regression were performed to understand factors associated with drug-resistant TB status and TB treatment outcome. Results In the bivariate analysis, drug-resistant TB status was significantly associated with year of TB diagnosis ( P  = 0.001) and viral load ( P  = 0.03). TB treatment outcome was significantly associated with age at diagnosis ( p  = 0.01), antiretroviral (ARV) treatment ( P   0.0001) and drug-resistant TB status ( P  = 0.02). In the adjusted analysis, drug-resistant TB status was associated with an increased likelihood of successful completion of treatment with a successful outcome compared with treatment failure (odds ratio = 6.94, 95% confidence interval 1.39–34.44). Conclusions These results suggest that having drug-resistant TB is associated with a higher likelihood of completing treatment with successful outcome, even when controlling for receipt of ARV therapy.