TY - JOUR T1 - To evaluate primary default among smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients at three chest clinics of Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases, Karachi, Pakistan JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p4372 AU - Nisar Rao AU - Tehzeeb Anwer AU - Iftikhar Arain AU - Ismat Ara Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p4372.abstract N2 - Objective: To evaluate the magnitude & reasons of primary default among smear positive TB cases at 3 chest clinics of Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases.Method: Prospective study, conducted from 1st January 2010 to 30th June 2010. The TB suspects were asked for sputum Acid Fast Bacilli smear examination. Then sputum positive cases were checked for registration for treatment. Those who did not report for treatment initiation were labeled as “primary defaulters (PD)”. They were then contacted on phone/ home visit with the request to get registered for treatment. They were also asked about reasons for not reporting.Results: Out of 7467 TB suspects 5167 (69.19%) submitted sputum. 1121 (21.69%) were smear positive TB. 947 (84.5%) registered for treatment while 173 (15.5%) did not (PD). 91/173 (53%) were successfully traced and registered for treatment. 15 patients (8.6%) were taking treatment from physicians ouside chest clinic, 7 (4%) were admitted without registration, 7 (4%) were suspected Drug-Resistant TB. 24 (13.87%) were untraceable PD. One patient was reported to have died at home due to unknown cause.Thirty seven out of 173 patients (21.38%) were unaware of their disease.The major reason for primary default was distance to clinic i.e. 83 (47.97%). 12 (6.93%) defaulted due to loss of wages, 8 defaulted due to the timing of the clinic, 9 were not interested in taking treatment.Conclusion: The primary default is high in the chest clinics of Ojha Institute. Proper counseling/default tracing will help to reduce the primary default rate. ER -