[Compliance with tuberculosis treatment in adults in Santiago, Chile]

A prospective study was conducted to estimate the current magnitude of adherence to short-course tuberculosis treatment, the degree of abandonment, the characteristics of treatment dropouts, and the causes of this abandonment. The study group was made up of tuberculosis patients over the age of 15 who received care at the Western and Southern Health Services of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile, between 1 October 1987 and 31 January 1988. The percentage abandoning treatment, calculated by the life table method, was 11.5. The profile of patients who dropped out of treatment was as follows: male, under 45 years of age, single, low level of education, no steady work, homeless, and alcoholic. In addition, an opinion survey on the variables associated with abandonment was conducted and it was concluded that the main ones were alcoholism and intolerance to tuberculosis drugs. Awareness of this profile makes it possible to take measures to prevent patients from abandoning treatment, as well as to educate and even hospitalize at the start of treatment those tuberculous patients exhibiting such a profile.