To assess the severity of anaemia and associated factors among drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) patients treated in DR-TB treatment-initiating centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

A retrospective cross-sectional study.

This study was conducted in Alert and St. Peters specialised hospitals, Addis Ababa, from 20 September to 15 October 2022.

Data was collected from 331 patients with DR-TB. The data was entered into Epi-Data 4.1, and SPSS version 25 was used for data cleaning and analysis. A multinomial logistic regression model was fitted after the multi-collinearity assumptions, and goodness-of-fit tests were done. The OR with 95% CI was reported for each outcome variable, taking normal haemoglobin level as a reference category. Variables with a P value of 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Of the 331 patients, 51.4% had baseline anaemia, of which 5.7%, 15.7% and 29.9% had severe, moderate and mild anaemia, respectively.

Patients who were urban residents (AOR: 0.06, 95% CI: 0.012, 0.32), government employees (AOR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.001, 0.79), private job holders (AOR: 0.02, 95% CI: 0.001, 0.27), undernourished (AOR: 15.72, 95% CI: 2.46, 100.28), patients with HIV (AOR: 7.28, 95% CI: 1.627, 32.628) and farmers and students (AOR: 0.05, 95% CI: 0.004, 0.58) were significantly associated with severe anaemia.

Patients who were male (AOR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.93), single (AOR: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.85), daily labourer (AOR: 6.19, 95% CI: 1.27, 30.2), undernourished (AOR: 12.83, 95% CI: 4.88, 33.7) and patients with HIV (AOR: 12.74, 95% CI: 4.67, 34.75) were significantly associated with moderate anaemia. Patients with undernutrition (AOR: 3.92, 95% CI: 2.1, 7.35), HIV (AOR: 2.79, 95% CI: 1.22, 6.39) and primary and secondary education (AOR: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.17, 0.77) were significantly associated with mild anaemia.

In our study, more than 50% of patients with DR-TB had baseline anaemia, of which mild anaemia was the most common typeanaemia. Rural residents were at a higher risk of developing severe anaemia (11.5%), while the overall rate of anaemia (58.8%) was higher among urban residents.

This study aims to synthesise evidence on the pooled level of exit knowledge among outpatients served in public hospital pharmacies and private pharmacies in Ethiopia and to identify the associated factors associated with medication knowledge by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of primary articles focused on this area.

This systematic review and meta-analysis study employed the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach.

Three electronic databases—MEDLINE, Scopus and Google Scholar—were searched for all English-language articles published from 2010 until 18 December 2024.

The review exclusively included studies that reported original data, were freely accessible in full text and were written in English, as well as those investigating the level of knowledge among outpatients and associated factors, irrespective of study design. Studies lacking abstracts and full texts, reports, qualitative research, and conference summaries were excluded from the analysis.

Data from selected studies were extracted by three independent reviewers using a standardised data extraction format created using Microsoft Excel. Their results were cross-checked by two additional reviewers for consistency.

Of the 521 identified studies, 9 met the inclusion criteria. The overall pooled knowledge level was 45%. Factors associated with knowledge included residence (OR=0.67, 95% CI: 0.27 to 0.71), adequacy of information provided (OR=0.87, 95% CI: 0.24 to 0.90), education level (OR=0.70 CI: 0.39 to 0.89), clarity of instructions (OR=0.80 CI: 0.14 to 0.99) and pharmacist politeness (OR=0.72 CI: 0.46 to 0.77).

The systematic review and meta-analysis showed that pooled patient knowledge regarding their dispensed medications in Ethiopia is about 45%. Key determinant factors of knowledge included education level, quality of pharmacist communication, urban versus rural residence and pharmacist politeness. Recommendations for improvement include enhancing pharmacist training, developing educational materials in local languages, outreach programmes for rural areas and implementing patient-centred care policies.

PROSPERO number: CRD42024560816