Defaulting from tuberculosis (TB) treatment has been one of the major obstacles to treatment management and an important challenge for TB control. Understanding of various factors accounting for treatment default could help to achieve better compliance from patients. Thus the aim of the study is to estimate number of defaulters and the reasons for default out of total TB patients registered under five DOTS centers from January to December 2014 in Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu. A prospective observational study was done by interviewing 27 defaulters using pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire to elicit reasons for default. Data was analyzed using standard statistical methods to find statistical significance among the variables. Of the total 27 defaulters among 282 patients registered, default rate in our study was 9.5%. Majority of patients (70%) had defaulted during intensive phase of the treatment. A higher default rate associated with age group of 35–64 years, males and employed groups. The main reasons for default was due to drug toxicity (40.7%), alcoholism (29.6%), migration (22.2%) and private treatment (7.4%), which includes family problems, timing inconvenient, and carelessness. Risk factors associated were male, age, alcoholism and migration. The majority of patients have defaulted in intensive phase of treatment. All efforts should be made to retrieve these patients and return them to treatment to achieve the expected goal of Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP).
