The Italian AIPO study on tuberculosis treatment results, report 1995. National AIPO "Tuberculosis" Study Group

In Italy, no national data on tuberculosis (TB) treatment results were available. In 1995, the AIPO (Italian Association of Hospital Pneumologists) TB Study Group, in collaboration with the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (technical branch of the Ministry of Health), started a prospective monitoring activity based on World Health Organization (WHO) and International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD) recommendations. Data were collected from a nationwide network of 41 TB units, managing a significant proportion of all TB cases notified in Italy each year. The aim of this study was to analyse the case findings and treatment results for the year 1995. Seven hundred and seventy eight TB cases were reported (59% males; 21% immigrants), 640 (82%) being new cases. Of these cases, 517 (66%) were pulmonary, 239 (31%) extrapulmonary and 22 (3%) both pulmonary and extrapulmonary. The main risk factors for TB were a history of recent contact and alcohol abuse among native Italians and human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive status among immigrants. The majority of immigrants were from Africa and South America, and had been in Italy > 24 months before diagnosis of TB. Thirty-seven per cent of patients had a positive direct sputum smear examination for alcohol acid-fast bacilli; 20% were resistant to any drug (monoresistance to isoniazid 3.5%; multidrug resistance 5.2%). In 95% of cases, the duration of treatment was < 12 months. The overall success rate (cured plus treatment completed) was 81.1%. A significantly higher percentage of deaths was found in native Italians (being age-related), whereas immigrants had a higher default rate.