[Studies about the therapy of tuberculosis in East Germany (former GDR)]

On the basis of a questionnaire the therapy of 2285 patients with tuberculosis was evaluated for the years 1987-1989. The data of the GDR National Tuberculosis Register (9827 patients) were used for statistical comparison. 85% of the patients had a pulmonary tuberculosis, 947 patients (41% of all) excreted tubercle bacilli in the sputum. The average duration of treatment was 31.8 weeks, 94.7% of the patients were hospitalised for treatment for an average time of 12.4 weeks, the following outpatient treatment was 19.4 weeks in average. The initial phase (daily-treatment) in all cases of tuberculosis was 8.6 weeks, the follow-up phase was 23.2 weeks (all data are averages). The intermittent outpatient drug administration was made in 95% of cases under nurse control in outpatient departments. The initial treatment was started in 92.1% with 3 or 4 drugs (H/R/Z/S or E). Isoniacid and rifampicin were prescribed in 89.7% and pyrazinamide was used as a 4th drug. In the follow-up phase the combination isoniacid and rifampicin was employed intermittent in 75.7%. The delaytime for the evaluated cases was 38.8 days in average. The result of study shows, in most cases the patients were treated according to the recommendation of therapy. The clinical stay of patients is too long.