Outcomes (bracketed outcomes rephrased as the negative) | Mean score | Relative importance |
1) Cure (treatment failure) | 8.7 | Critical |
2) Prompt initiation of appropriate treatment | 8.3 | Critical |
3) Avoiding the acquisition or amplification of drug resistance | 8.1 | Critical |
4) Survival (death) | 7.9 | Critical |
5) Staying disease-free after treatment; sustaining a cure (relapse) | 7.6 | Critical |
6) Case holding so the TB patient remains adherent to treatment (default or treatment interruption due to non-adherence) | 7.6 | Critical |
7) Population coverage or access to appropriate treatment of drug-resistant TB | 7.5 | Critical |
8) Smear or culture conversion during treatment | 7.4 | Critical |
9) Accelerated detection of drug resistance | 7.4 | Critical |
10) Avoid unnecessary treatment for MDR-TB | 7.2 | Critical |
11) Population coverage or access to diagnosis of drug-resistant TB | 7.1 | Critical |
12) Prevention or interruption of transmission of drug-resistant TB to other people, including other patients and healthcare workers | 6.9 | Important but not critical |
13) Shortest possible duration of treatment | 6.7 | Important but not critical |
14) Avoiding toxicity and adverse reactions from TB drugs | 6.5 | Important but not critical |
15) Cost to patient, including direct medical costs as well as others, such as transportation and lost wages due to disability | 6.4 | Important but not critical |
16) Resolution of TB signs and symptoms; ability to resume usual life activities | 6.3 | Important but not critical |
17) Interaction of TB drugs with non-TB medications | 5.6 | Important but not critical |
18) Cost to the TB programme | 5.4 | Important but not critical |
Members of the Guideline Development Group submitted scores for TB outcomes which they considered to be the most critical when making decisions on drug-resistant TB management. Members were asked to take a societal perspective in rating the outcomes. Rating by relative importance was on an incremental scale, as follows. 1–3 points: not important for making recommendations on choice of testing and treatment strategies for drug-resistant TB (none of the outcomes was scored in this category); 4–6 points: important but not critical for making recommendations on choice of testing and treatment strategies; 7–9 points: critical for making recommendations on choice of testing and treatment strategies. MDR-TB: multidrug-resistant TB.