07/07/2025
Men in Georgia face worse outcomes in TB treatment: study reveals influence of social factors
Tbilisi, Georgia - Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a pressing public health problem in Georgia. According to the World Health Organization, about 2,200 new cases were reported in the country in 2022, of which approximately 360 (16%) were drug resistant.
Men get TB more often than women and face more unfavorable treatment outcomes, a new international study shows. The data were derived from an analysis of more than 6,000 patients from six Eastern European countries - Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan - over the period 2020-2022.
The results are published in The Lancet Regional Health - Europe:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666776225001462
According to the study, in 30% of men the outcome of treatment was unfavorable - death, failure of therapy or treatment interruption. Among women, the proportion was 19.5%. In addition, men accounted for 75% of all patients in the sample.
However, after adjusting for age, disease severity, education level, unemployment, smoking, alcohol and drug use, and a history of imprisonment - no statistically significant differences remained between men and women. This means that gender differences in treatment outcomes are explained by social and behavioral factors rather than biology.
"In the Georgian context, where men predominate among TB patients and are more likely to face adverse social factors, it is crucial to take gender specificity into account when organizing care. Gender-sensitive approaches to treatment and patient support can significantly improve therapeutic outcomes and reduce disease burden," emphasizes Dr. Sergo Vashakidze, Surgery Coordinator and TB Portals Project Leader at the National Center for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Tbilisi.
The study was conducted as part of an international project involving researchers from Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, Germany, USA, France, and Denmark. The analysis is based on the unique TB Portals platform, an international open database maintained by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID) that brings together clinical, radiological, and genomic patient data from more than 40 clinical centers in 16 countries.
"Studies like this are especially important for countries with a high TB burden, including Georgia. They help to better understand patients' vulnerabilities and shape effective support interventions - especially for men, who have been shown to be more likely to drop out of treatment," the authors note.
Key project partners: Borstel Research Center (Germany), Kharkiv National Medical University (Ukraine), National TB Reference Laboratory (Moldova), National Center for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (Georgia), Aarhus University Hospital (Denmark), and national TB centers in Romania and Kazakhstan.
