Table 4.
Factors associated with healthcare-seeking behaviours for children aged less than 5 years, by reported illness, Bondo district, Kenya, 2005
| Characteristics | Past 12 months† | Past 2 weeks | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported pneumonia (n=50) | Reported respiratory illness (n=123) | Reported diarrhoea (n=188) | Reported fever (n=589) | |||||||||
| % visiting any facility | % visiting hospital as in- or outpatient | % hospitalized | % visiting any facility | % visiting hospital as in- or outpatient | % hospitalized | % visiting any facility | % visiting hospital as in- or outpatient | % hospitalized | % visiting any facility | % visiting hospital as in- or outpatient | % hospitalized | |
| All under-five | ||||||||||||
| children | 88.0 | 48.0 | 26.0 | 41.5 | 17.9 | 6.5 | 36.0 | 7.9 | 1.6 | 35.2 | 11.2 | 3.4 |
| Gender | ||||||||||||
| Male | 95.0 | 55.0 | 30.0 | 39.3 | 19.7 | 9.8 | 38.2 | 12.4 | 3.4 | 34.7 | 13.9 | 4.5 |
| Female | 83.3 | 43.3** | 23.3 | 43.5 | 16.1 | 3.2 | 34.3 | 4.0** | 0 | 35.9 | 8.8** | 2.3 |
| Infant aged less than 1 year | ||||||||||||
| Yes | 87.5 | 50.0 | 25.0 | 42.9 | 28.6 | 14.3 | 36.6 | 4.9 | 0 | 43.4 | 12.1 | 4.0 |
| No | 88.1 | 47.6 | 26.2 | 41.2 | 15.7 | 4.9** | 35.8 | 8.8 | 2.0 | 33.6** | 11.1 | 3.2 |
| Socioeconomic status$ | ||||||||||||
| High | 96.4 | 53.6 | 32.1 | 48.0 | 28.0 | 12.0 | 36.7 | 13.9 | 2.5 | 36.5 | 14.6 | 3.9 |
| Low | 77.3* | 40.9 | 18.2 | 37.0 | 11.0* | 2.7* | 35.5 | 3.6* | 0.9 | 34.4 | 9.1** | 3.0 |
| Education of caretaker‡ | ||||||||||||
| High | 83.3 | 53.3 | 30.0 | 37.1 | 17.1 | 5.7 | 37.7 | 11.3 | 2.8 | 36.9 | 12.7 | 3.6 |
| Low | 95.0** | 40.0 | 20.0 | 47.2 | 18.9 | 7.5 | 33.7 | 3.6 | 0 | 33.2 | 9.5 | 3.1 |
| Severity of illness$$ | ||||||||||||
| Severe | 90.0 | 65.0 | 35.0 | 36.0 | 12.0 | 4.0 | 35.6 | 11.9 | 5.1 | 38.7 | 15.5 | 7.1 |
| Nonsevere | 86.7 | 36.7* | 20.0 | 42.9 | 19.4 | 7.1 | 36.2 | 6.2 | 0 | 34.0 | 9.8** | 2.0* |
* p<0.05 in multivariate model, including all five characteristics in the left column;
** p<0.1 in multivariate analysis;
† Excludes two weeks before interview;
$Households of higher socioeconomic status were defined as those with three or more of the following possessions: telephone, television, radio, sofa, bicycle, motorcycle, or car;
‡Caretaker's education was stratified as completion of primary school or higher versus no education or incomplete primary school education;
$$Illness episodes were stratified into severe and non-severe categories according to the number of symptoms of severe illness (adapted from IMCI guidelines) reported by the caretakers (30,31). For under-five children, respiratory illness episodes were defined as severe if they included six or more of the following symptoms: rapid breathing, blue mouth or fingers, inability to breastfeed or drink, vomiting, lethargy, convulsions, loss of consciousness, and chest-pain (for under-two children, grunting, lower chest wall-indrawing, or nasal flaring was substituted for chest-pain). Severe diarrhoeal illness episodes included five or more of the following: blood in stool, sunken eyes (as a sign of dehydration), restlessness or irritability, inability to breastfeed or drink, lethargy, and loss of consciousness. Severe febrile illness episodes included four or more of the following: bleeding from any orifice, cough, difficulty breathing, rapid breathing, vomiting, restlessness or irritability, convulsions, and loss of consciousness. For children and adults aged five years or above (data not shown in table), the minimum numbers of symptoms used in defining severe illness were 4, 4, and 3 for respiratory illnesses, diarrhoeal illness, and febrile illness respectively.
IMCI=Integrated management of childhood illness