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We regret that this article is behind a paywall., Background: Recent World Health Organisation guidance on drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment de-prioritised injectable agents, in use for decades, and endorsed all-oral longer regimens. However, questions remain about the role of the injectable agent, particularly in the context of regimens using new and repurposed drugs. We compared the effectiveness of an injectable-containing regimen to that of an all-oral regimen among patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis who received bedaquiline- and/or delamanid as part of their multidrug regimen. Methods: Patients with a positive baseline culture were included. Six-month culture conversion was defined as two consecutive negative cultures collected >15 days apart. We derived predicted probabilities of culture conversion and relative risk using marginal standardisation methods. Results: Culture conversion was observed in 83.8% (526/628) of patients receiving an all-oral regimen and 85.5% (425/497) of those receiving an injectable-containing regimen. The adjusted relative risk comparing injectable-containing regimens to all-oral regimens was 0.96 (95%CI: 0.88-1.04). We found very weak evidence of effect modification by HIV status: among patients living with HIV, there was a small increase in the frequency of conversion among those receiving an injectable-containing regimen, relative to an all-oral regimen, which was not apparent in HIV-negative patients. Conclusions: Among individuals receiving bedaquiline and/or delamanid as part of a multidrug regimen for drug-resistant tuberculosis, there was no significant difference between those who received an injectable and those who did not regarding culture conversion within 6 months. The potential contribution of injectable agents in the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis among those who were HIV positive requires further study.

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a global public health problem. The incidence of TB is especially high among TB key populations, such as the homeless, people who use drugs, prisoners, and migrants. The study aimed to assess the associations between affiliation to TB key populations and treatment outcome. Methodology: This retrospective cross-sectional study used data extracted from the National TB Registry of Kyrgyzstan for the region of Chuy (including the city of Bishkek) for 2015–2017. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the data. Logistic regression was used to assess the associations. Results: The study included 1,526 patients among whom more than half (52.5%) fell into the youngest group (18-35 years old). Migrants were the most highly represented group comprising 67.8% of all TB key populations. Men (63.0%) and patients with pulmonary TB (83.0%) prevailed in the cohort. The proportions of patients who had completed the treatment were high among all the key populations. Logistic regression was used to assess the association between affiliation to a certain TB key population and the TB treatment outcome. Patients who belonged to more than one TB key population were found to have the highest risk of unsuccessful TB treatment outcomes, both in the region of Chuy (OR = 9.9, 95% CI 2.0–48.1, p = 0.04) and the city of Bishkek (OR = 24.9, 95% CI 7.2–86.4, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The homeless, people who use drugs, ex-prisoners, and TB patients who belonged to more than one TB key population were found to have higher risks of unsuccessful TB treatment outcome in comparison to migrants.