Factors influencing delay in sputum conversion in smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients in primary care in Kuala Lipis Pahang

objective. This study was conducted to investigate factors associated with delay in sputum conversion at first and second months during pulmonary tuberculosis treatment. Methods. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in multicentre at primary care clinics in the district of kuala lipis pahang among newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis patients in 2015-2019. Sociodemographic, clinical, and treatment-related data on patients' medical charts were collected using a standardized data collection form. Results. This study enrolled 147 participants with a mean age of 47.34 years. The sputum conversion rate at the end of the second month was 78.9%. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to predict the factors that influence the delay in sputum conversion. The results found a statistically significant association (p <0.05) to those patients with diabetes mellitus (aor 2.51) during the 1st and 2nd months (aor 1.52), smokers (aor 2.66) during the 1st and 2nd months (aor 4.56), being underweight (aor 4.56) at 1st month and (aor 3.34) at 2nd month and hiv positive status during the 1st month (aor 1.18) and 2nd month (aor 2.406) were found to be predicted factors that influencing with delayed sputum smear conversion at 1st and 2nd month during pulmonary tuberculosis treatment.