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Background and Objective: Tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world. The amount of the bacilli in tuberculosis will reduce rapidly by starting effective antibiotic treatment and the remained bacilli in the sputum will be an important scale to respond to treatment. This study was conducted to evaluate the examin factors associated with the conversion of positive smear to negative one in tubercular-pulmonary patients in Golestan province, in northern Iran.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study was carried out on 2093 patients with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis registered in Golestan province, northern Iran from March 2009-14 referred to health centers. The outcome of this study was to determine the time of changing to negative of the first smear during the treatment and evaluating its relationship with demographic variables, the density of bacilli in the smear, culture, chest x-ray, diabetes and HIV.
Results: 67.5% of patients among 2093 smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients were conversion rate of smear at the end of the second months. Results of Cox model showed relationship between gender, age, weight, density bacillus smear and culture results at the start of treatment and negative smears(P<0.05). Old age, low weight, high density of bacillus in primary smear in the beginning of treatment and increasing of the number of colonies in culture of positive smear patients were considered as predictor factors in changing positive smear to negative one.
Conclusion: This study revealed that Conversion rate and treatment success in Golestan province was less than what was expected.

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Background and Objective: Malnutrition is a significant factor contributing to delays in recovery or failure of tuberculosis (TB) treatment. One nutritional support strategy involves providing food baskets to TB patients during their treatment course. This study was conducted in Golestan Province to determine the effect of food support on the treatment outcomes of TB patients.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical observational study, supported by the Community Nutrition Improvement Office of the Ministry of Health, was conducted longitudinally in two parallel groups in Golestan Province, during 2017. The first group consisted of 129 TB patients under treatment who had received two supportive food baskets and had completed their treatment course. The second group comprised 399 TB patients who did not receive any supportive food baskets. The outcomes, including mortality, treatment non-adherence, treatment failure, and recovery, were tracked for both patient groups by the healthcare system, and the necessary information was recorded in the patients’ records and compared.
Results: During an 8-month follow-up period, commencing from the second month of treatment, the increase in the mean weight of patients receiving the supportive food basket was statistically significant (P<0.05). Recovery rates in patients receiving the supportive food basket were determined to be 94.6%, while in patients not receiving the supportive food basket, it was 88.7% (P<0.05). The relative risk of non-recovery in the group not receiving the supportive food basket was 2.078 times that of the group receiving the supportive food basket (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.961-4.494).
Conclusion: Receiving a supportive food basket is effective in the treatment of TB patients in Golestan Province.