Abstract
INTRODUCTION: A 6-month isoniazid as tuberculosis preventive therapy (TPT) for people living with HIV (PLHIV) was nationally introduced in Eritrea in 2014. However, its effectiveness in preventing tuberculosis (TB) and duration of protection was questioned by physicians. This study was, therefore, conducted to evaluate the impact of the isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) primarily on the prevention of TB and duration of its protection in PLHIV. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted that selected all eligible PLHIV attending HIV care clinics in all national and regional referral hospitals in Eritrea. Data was collected from patients' clinical cards using a structured data extraction sheet. The association between use of IPT and outcomes of interest was assessed using a Cox proportional hazard regression model and Kaplan-Meier curve. RESULTS: A total of 6803 patients were selected, which accounted for 75% of all PLHIV-accessing HIV care clinics in Eritrea. About 76% of patients were exposed to IPT while the remaining 24% were unexposed. The mean follow-up time was 4.9 years (SD 1.4). The incidence rate of TB was 1.7 and 10 cases per 1000 person-years in the exposed and unexposed, respectively. The unexposed had a higher risk of incident TB (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 3.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.89, 6.13) and all-cause mortality (HR 2.41, 95% CI 1.85, 3.14) compared to the exposed. A Kaplan-Meier curve showed that the exposed group had a higher TB-free follow-up probability (98.8%) compared to the unexposed (95%) at 65 months of follow-up (p < 0.001). IPT protection decreased rapidly 6 months after isoniazid completion. CONCLUSION: Use of a 6-month isoniazid as TPT was found to be effective in reducing incident TB in PLHIV-accessing HIV care clinics in Eritrea. However, the protection appeared to diminish soon, namely 6 months after completion of isoniazid, which warrants immediate attention from policy makers.