Abstract
BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nonadherence to anti-TB treatment may result in the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB, prolonged infectiousness, and poor tuberculosis treatment outcomes. Ethiopia is one of the seven countries that reported lower rates of treatment success (84%). This study assessed anti-TB drug nonadherence and associated factors among TB patients in Arba Minch governmental health institutions. METHODS: An institution based cross-sectional study design was conducted from April 15 to May 30, 2017. A systematic sampling technique was employed to select the study subjects. Data was collected using a semistructured questionnaire with Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 (MMAS-8) and was entered, cleaned, and analyzed in SPSS version 20. RESULTS: The study included 271 TB patients with a response rate of 96.4%; 58.3% were males and 64.9% were Gamo by ethnicity. The overall nonadherence was 67 (24.7%) (CI = 20.0-30.4). Nonadherence was high if the patients experienced side effects (AOR = 13.332; 95% CI = 2.282-77.905), were far from the health facility (AOR = 21.830; 95% CI = 0.054-77.500), and experienced prolonged waiting time to get medical services (AOR = 14.260; 95% CI = 2.135-95.241). CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of TB patients that did not adhere to anti-TB drugs was high in Arba Minch governmental health institutions.