Key points
The most recent information available on completion of therapy is from 2019. In the United States, 14 states and cities met or exceeded the 2025 national target of 95.0% of eligible patients with TB completing a full treatment regimen in 12 months or less.
Overview
Fully treating and, therefore, preventing further spread of M. tuberculosis is key to TB control and elimination. If TB drugs are stopped too soon or not taken correctly, a person may develop symptoms again or drug resistance may develop, enabling the further spread of TB. Each patient is unique. There are many reasons why a patient might be unable or unwilling to complete TB treatment, such as:
- No longer experiencing symptoms of TB, not fully understanding the treatment regimen
- Not being willing or able to manage side effects of their treatment regimen
- Cultural beliefs
- Language barriers
- Difficulty getting health care
- Substance use
- Mental health issues
Completion of therapy among persons who have experienced homelessness or been incarcerated can be particularly challenging due to difficulty locating patients for follow-up care and treatment, but it is particularly important because of the risk of transmission at shelters or correctional facilities.
- Directly observed therapy (i.e., patients are observed to ingest each dose of anti-TB medications)
- Use of incentives and enablers (e.g., gift cards for food or bus fare for transportation to get to and from the health department) to get patients to complete treatment
- Promoting the shortest appropriate treatment regimen for each patient
Newly diagnosed TB cases completing treatment ≤12 months
TB treatment is complex and can take several months to complete. It can take up to 2 years to have full treatment information reported for each TB patient. As a result, the most recent information available on completion of therapy is from patients in the 50 states and 9 cities who were identified with TB in 2019.
For these patients, 14 states and cities met or exceeded the 2025 national target of 95.0% of eligible patients with TB completing a full treatment regimen in 12 months or less; 18 states and cities were short of the 2025 target but met or exceeded the national average (89.9%).
The fraction in each parenthesis reports the number of TB patients who completed treatment within 12 months out of the total number of patients who were eligible to complete treatment within 12 months.
States/cities are grouped into thirds based on numbers of TB cases reported in 2019.
Due to the small denominator, data for states that reported 50 or fewer total TB cases should be interpreted with caution.
Completion of therapy among persons who have experienced homelessness
In 2019 there were 10 states and 4 cities that reported 6 or more TB patients ages 15 years or older who experienced homelessness in the year prior to diagnosis; 10 of these 14 jurisdictions exceeded the national average of 72.4% completion of therapy among TB patients who experienced homelessness.
| States* with 1 to 2 TB patients age ≥15 experiencing homelessness | Percentage of patients age ≥15 experiencing homelessness who completed treatment within 12 months^ | Percentage of all patients who completed treatment within 12 months† | States* with 3 to 5 TB patients age ≥15 experiencing homelessness | Percentage of patients age ≥15 experiencing homelessness who completed treatment within 12 months^ | Percentage of all patients who completed treatment within 12 months† | States* with 6 or more TB patients age ≥15 experiencing homelessness | Percentage of patients age ≥15 experiencing homelessness who completed treatment within 12 months^ | Percentage of all patients who completed treatment within 12 months† |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 100.0 | 94.5 | Alaska | 100.0 | 90.4 | Washington | 100.0 | 93.9 |
| Delaware | 100.0 | 81.3 | Alabama | 100.0 | 93.0 | Tennessee | 100.0 | 97.3 |
| Kansas | 100.0 | 100.0 | Michigan | 100.0 | 95.2 | Florida | 100.0 | 97.4 |
| Wisconsin | 100.0 | 97.5 | Oregon | 100.0 | 96.8 | New Jersey | 85.7 | 92.8 |
| Hawaii | 100.0 | 91.9 | Virginia | 100.0 | 93.8 | San Francisco | 85.7 | 90.7 |
| Illinois | 100.0 | 92.7 | Kentucky | 100.0 | 96.0 | Ohio | 83.3 | 85.8 |
| Maryland | 100.0 | 83.4 | Arkansas | 80.0 | 87.5 | Georgia | 82.4 | 90.0 |
| Arizona | 50.0 | 94.0 | Chicago | 80.0 | 93.5 | New York City | 81.8 | 90.2 |
| Missouri | 50.0 | 79.0 | North Carolina | 80.0 | 89.7 | Indiana | 80.0 | 94.4 |
| North Dakota | 50.0 | 75.0 | Maine | 75.0 | 87.5 | Los Angeles | 76.7 | 87.0 |
| South Carolina | 50.0 | 95.0 | Massachusetts | 75.0 | 85.2 | California | 68.8 | 89.4 |
| South Dakota | 50.0 | 91.7 | New Mexico | 66.7 | 89.2 | Texas | 67.7 | 85.4 |
| Baltimore | 0.0 | 84.2 | Houston | 60.0 | 94.4 | San Diego | 65.0 | 85.5 |
| Pennsylvania | 0.0 | 90.1 | Minnesota | 50.0 | 89.5 | Mississippi | 63.6 | 89.8 |
| Philadelphia | 0.0 | 88.7 | New York | 50.0 | 88.3 | |||
| District of Columbia | 0.0 | 86.4 | Louisiana | 25.0 | 73.7 |
*States/cities are grouped into thirds based on numbers of TB cases among persons experiencing homelessness reported in 2019.
^Among those age ≥ 15 years who were eligible to complete treatment within 12 months
†Among all patients of any age who were eligible to complete treatment within 12 months (including those who experienced homelessness in the past year)
Completion of therapy among persons who were residents of correctional facilities
There were 5 states and 4 cities in 2019 that reported 4 or more TB patients ages 15 years or older who were residents of correctional facilities at TB diagnosis; 5 of these 9 jurisdictions exceeded the national average of 72.1% completion of therapy among TB patients residing at correctional facilities.
| States* with 1 to 2 TB patients age ≥15 who were incarcerated | Percentage of incarcerated patients age ≥15 who completed treatment within 12 months^ | Percentage of all patients who completed treatment within 12 months† | States* with 3 to 4 TB patients age ≥15 who were incarcerated | Percentage of incarcerated patients age ≥15 who completed treatment within 12 months^ | Percentage of all patients who completed treatment within 12 months† | States* with 5 or more TB patients age ≥15 who were incarcerated | Percentage of incarcerated patients age ≥15 who completed treatment within 12 months^ | Percentage of all patients who completed treatment within 12 months† |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | 100.0 | 87.5 | Indiana | 100.0 | 94.4 | Arizona | 100.0 | 94.0 |
| Chicago | 100.0 | 93.5 | North Carolina | 100.0 | 89.7 | District of Columbia | 87.5 | 86.4 |
| Colorado | 100.0 | 94.5 | Tennessee | 100.0 | 97.3 | New York City | 80.0 | 90.2 |
| Connecticut | 100.0 | 92.5 | Houston | 75.0 | 94.4 | Mississippi | 75.0 | 89.8 |
| Illinois | 100.0 | 92.7 | New York | 66.7 | 88.3 | San Diego | 72.7 | 85.5 |
| Louisiana | 100.0 | 73.7 | Texas | 65.8 | 85.4 | |||
| Maryland | 100.0 | 83.4 | California | 62.5 | 89.4 | |||
| Michigan | 100.0 | 95.2 | Los Angeles | 57.1 | 87.0 | |||
| Missouri | 100.0 | 79.0 | Georgia | 37.5 | 90.0 | |||
| Ohio | 100.0 | 85.8 | ||||||
| West Virginia | 100.0 | 100.0 | ||||||
| South Dakota | 100.0 | 91.7 | ||||||
| Washington | 100.0 | 93.9 | ||||||
| Alaska | 0.0 | 90.4 | ||||||
| Baltimore | 0.0 | 84.2 | ||||||
| Minnesota | 0.0 | 89.5 | ||||||
| New Jersey | 0.0 | 92.8 | ||||||
| New Mexico | 0.0 | 89.2 | ||||||
| Oklahoma | 0.0 | 82.7 |
*States/cities are grouped into thirds based on numbers of incarcerated TB cases reported in 2019.
^Among those age ≥15 years who were eligible to complete treatment within 12 months.
†Among all patients of any age who were eligible to complete treatment within 12 months (including those who were incarcerated at diagnosis).
- Figure 7: National Tuberculosis Surveillance System as of June 14, 2021
- Tables 1 and 2: National Tuberculosis Surveillance System as of July 8, 2022