Review Article: A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Hospital- and Ambulatory-Based Management of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis

A systematic review of the literature was conducted on the effectiveness of MDR-TB management. A meta-analysis of treatment outcomes of patients treated in hospitals versus ambulatory-based models was performed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. The pooled treatment success rate was 66.4% (95% confidence interval [Cl] 61.4-71.1%), with no statistical difference between ambulatory (65.5%; 55.1-74.6%) and hospital-based models (66.7%; 61.0-72.0%). The pooled death rate was 10.4% (6.3-16.5%), the pooled treatment failure rate was 9.5% (7.3-12.4%), and the defaulter rate was 14.3% (10.5-19.1%). None of the differences between the two models were statistically significant for any of the outcomes considered. This work improves the quality of the evidence available supporting the World Health Organizations (WHO) recommendation that patients be treated using mainly ambulatory care, conditional on infection control measures in the home and clinic, clinical condition of the patient, availability of treatment support to facilitate adherence to treatment, and provisions for backup facility to manage patients who need inpatient treatment care.