Tuberculosis (TB) defaulter cases in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, their factors and causes

TB is an air borne diseases and must me be treated in a certain time period. If the patients failed or defaulted from adhering to the treatment, the cases will be listed as TB defaulter cases. This study focused on the reasons or the factors of why defaulter cases happened specifically in the Pasir Mas District, Kelantan, Malaysia. We also assessed if these lost to follow treatment factors are significant to the number of defaulter cases. Patients with positive pulmonary TB presenting for treatment were identified and asked few questions on their demographic data; gender, age, race, education level, income status and living location. The data collected were recorded in Sistem Maklumat TB and were used to identify the most significant sociodemographic factors that dominated the defaulter cases. 125 (17.63%) defaulters were identified out of 708 TB cases in the study field in year 2013 to 2017. This study has found that the socio demographic patterns among defaulter patients in Pasir Mas are mostly dominated by male gender (74.4%), aged between 35 to 44 years old (28%), Malay (96.8%), had up to upper secondary education level (72%), having no fixed income (93.6%) and lived in rural areas (92.8%). Level of awareness among defaulter cases were lower among male gender (66.4%), having no fixed income (88%) and mostly living in rural areas (87.2%). In identifying sociodemographic factors associated with defaulter cases in Pasir Mas, this study found that only gender is significant (p-0.003) with defaulter cases but income status (p0.239) and living location (p-1) are not significant to the cases. In conclusion, sociodemographic factors associated with TB defaulter cases play a huge role as the reasons why the patients failed to follow treatment. Patients have to have consciousness in treating this pulmonary diseases and healthcare workers need to work harder in playing their roles in rising patients health education and awareness in understanding the danger of TB. When defaulter cases are left untreated, there will be higher possibility for TB cases to increase through the droplets released in the air. TB is not easy to catch, yet it is indeed contagious and currently the ninth top cause of death worldwide.