Epidemiology of Pediatric Tuberculosis and Factors Associated with Unsuccessful Treatment Outcomes in the Centre Region of Cameroon: A Three-Year Retrospective Cohort Study

Table 1

Treatment outcomes and operational definitions.

Type of TB treatment outcome	Definition	Classification/study outcome
Cured	A child diagnosed at the beginning of treatment as PTB + who is smear-negative in the last month of treatment and on at least one previous occasion at least 30 days apart	Successful treatment outcome
Completed treatment	A child who has completed treatment but does not have a negative smear in the last month of treatment and on at least one previous occasion more than 30 days prior. The smear examination may not have been done, or the results may not be available at the end of treatment.
Treatment failure	A patient whose baseline smear at the beginning of treatment was positive and remains or becomes positive again at 5 months or later during treatment. This definition excludes those patients who are diagnosed with rifampicin or multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.	Unsuccessful treatment outcome
Not evaluated	A child on TB treatment for whom no treatment outcome is assigned. This includes cases “transferred out” to another treatment unit as well as those whose treatment outcome is unknown at the health facility.
Lost to follow-up (LTFU)	When a child took TB treatment for at least 1 full month, treatment was interrupted for two consecutive months or more during the treatment period.
Died	A child who dies at any moment between diagnosis and successful discharge from the treatment program.