Glycemic control monitoring in patients with tuberculosis and diabetes: a descriptive study from programmatic setting in Tamil Nadu, India.

India's national tuberculosis (TB) programme recommends that among patients with diabetes mellitus and TB, fasting blood glucose (FBG) be recorded at baseline, the end of intensive phase and the end of continuation phase of TB treatment. We conducted this operational research in select districts of Tamil Nadu, India, in 2016 to determine the availability of blood glucose records and glycemic control status during TB treatment. This was a descriptive study involving secondary programme data.

Use of Rapid, Point-of-Care Assays by Private Practitioners in Chennai, India: Priorities for Tuberculosis Diagnostic Testing.

Setting: Private practitioners are frequently the first point of healthcare contact for patients with tuberculosis (TB) in India. As new molecular tests are developed for point-of-care (POC) diagnosis of TB, it is imperative to understand these individuals' practices and preferences for POC testing.

Objective: To evaluate rapid testing practices and identify priorities for novel POC TB tests among private practitioners in Chennai.

How Do Urban Indian Private Practitioners Diagnose and Treat Tuberculosis? A Cross-Sectional Study in Chennai.

Setting: Private practitioners are frequently the first point of healthcare contact for patients with tuberculosis (TB) in India. Inappropriate TB management practices among private practitioners may contribute to delayed TB diagnosis and generate drug resistance. However, these practices are not well understood.

The profile and treatment outcomes of the older (aged 60 years and above) tuberculosis patients in Tamilnadu, South India.

Background: With changing demographic patterns in the context of a high tuberculosis (TB) burden country, like India, there is very little information on the clinical and demographic factors associated with poor treatment outcome in the sub-group of older TB patients. The study aimed to assess the proportion of older TB patients (60 years of age and more), to compare the type of TB and treatment outcomes between older TB patients and other TB patients (less than 60 years of age) and to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of older TB patients and assess any associations with TB treatment outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study involving a review of records from April to June 2011 in the 12 selected districts of Tamilnadu, India.

Management of multi drug resistance tuberculosis in the field: Tuberculosis Research Centre experience.

Setting: Multi-drug TB resistant (resistant to isoniazid and rifampicin) patients identified from a rural and urban area.

Objective: To study the feasibility of managing MDR TB patients under field conditions where DOTS programme has been implemented.

Methods: MDR TB Patients identified among patients treated under DOTS in the rural area and from cases referred by the NGO when MDR TB was suspected form the study population.