Economic burden of tuberculosis in patients attending DOT centres in Delhi

Tuberculosis inflicts a negative impact on global socioeconomic prosperity. Though India carries one third of the global burden of the disease, few studies have focussed in the country on this aspect. The present study was therefore, framed to estimate economic loss amongst TB patients. A total of 156 patients attending two DOT centres were interviewed in depth, regarding economic loss due to tuberculosis, using a semi structured pretested interview schedule during a period of 5 months. More than 75% of the subjects belonged to the age group of 15-44 years of which 71.6% were males. 34.6% of patients were housewives and 10.9% were students. Mean expenditure before registration in DOT centre was Rs. 3385.5 irrespective of all socioeconomic classes. The upper lower socio-economic class of patients incurred maximum mean expenditure of Rs. 9782.0. Mean duration of wage loss was found to be 47.1 days. Study participants incurred economic loss both in terms of direct and indirect costs, more so in lower socio-economic group, besides delay in attending DOT centres for treatment. Awareness campaign focussing on treatment availability and DOT centre could help in reducing such economic loss.