Outcomes
death, tuberculosis
RECURRENCE, MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS, EVENT, TUBERCULOSIS, ADVERSE REACTION
The primary outcome was a composite of death, loss to follow-up (or stopping treatment due to an adverse reaction or refusal of treatment), treatment failure, switch to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment, or tuberculosis recurrence by 18 months from treatment start. Treatment outcomes were based on standard national tuberculosis programme outcomes documented on the tuberculosis register (Secondary outcomes were poor treatment outcome (death, treatment failure, loss to follow-up during treatment, and switch to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment), loss to follow-up during treatment, poor treatment outcome or recurrence within 12 months of treatment start, time to recurrence in those who had been cured or completed treatment, and 2-month smear conversion to negative among those with a positive smear at the start of treatment. Secondary outcomes for adherence were percentage of months in which patients missed at least 20% of doses, percentage of overall doses missed, and visits attended on schedule. Process measures included inability to use the fixed dose combination treatment, number of visits by township and village doctor, medication event reminder monitor malfunctions, and withdrawal from using the medication event reminder monitor. In the intervention group, we also summarised the number of times the alarm sounded each day, and change of management due to non-adherence.Visits were defined as being attended on schedule if the number of days between visits was the same or fewer than the number of days’ worth of medication given to patients at their previous visit.