Analysis of tuberculosis treatment outcomes in the European Union and European Economic Area: efforts needed towards optimal case management and control

An analysis of surveillance data was performed to assess treatment outcomes of patients belonging to selected calendar year cohorts. Twenty-two countries in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) reported treatment outcome monitoring data for culture-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) cases reported in 2007. The overall treatment success rate was 73.8% for all culture-confirmed pulmonary cases and 79.5% for new culture-confirmed pulmonary cases. For the cohort of new culture-confirmed TB cases, only three countries achieved the target of 85% success rate. This underachievement appears to be a result of relative high defaulting and unknown outcome information. Case fatality remains high particularly among cases of national origin. This factor appears attributable to advanced age of the national cohort. Treatment outcomes for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis were reported by 15 countries, with a range of 19.8% to 100% treatment success at 24 months. The data underline the urgent need for strengthening treatment outcome monitoring in the EU and EEA in order to ensure an effective programme implementation and case management that will ultimately contribute to TB elimination.