Sat Jan 25 16:05:00 UTC 2025: ## Nutritional Support for TB Patients and Households Could Avert Hundreds of Thousands of Cases and Deaths in India

**Mangalore, India – January 25, 2025** – A new modelling study published in *The Lancet Global Health* reveals that providing nutritional support to both adult tuberculosis (TB) patients and their household contacts could significantly reduce the burden of TB in India. The study, conducted by researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore, estimates that at 50% coverage, this intervention could avert over 361,000 deaths and 880,000 new TB cases by 2035.

The research builds upon the findings of the RATIONS trial, which demonstrated the effectiveness of nutritional support in improving TB treatment outcomes. The modelling study uses data from the RATIONS trial and existing TB transmission models to project the impact of providing nutritional care. It estimates that this intervention would be cost-effective, with a cost of $167 per disability-adjusted life-year averted.

The study compared different scenarios: providing support only to adult TB patients, only to household contacts, and to both. Providing support to both groups yielded the best results, significantly reducing both deaths and new cases. Researchers highlight that while support for household contacts is crucial for preventing new infections, providing support to patients themselves leads to better treatment outcomes and reduces the chance of disease reactivation.

The authors emphasize that while population-level nutritional interventions would have a broader impact, targeting high-risk households offers a more cost-effective approach in resource-constrained settings like India. They suggest the findings should guide policymakers in prioritizing nutritional support as a key strategy in combating the TB epidemic. The researchers urge international and national decision-makers to use these findings to advocate for better, more targeted interventions supporting TB patients and their families.

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