Table 2.
Patients’ and health system’s delays of new PTB patients by background characterstics, West Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia
| Variables | N | Patients’ delay (days) | Health system’s delay (days) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median | IQR | P value | Median | IQR | P value | ||
| Age (years) | < 0.001* | 0.55 | |||||
| 15–24 | 197 | 15.0 | 7–29 | 20.0 | 5–69 | ||
| 25–44 | 291 | 17.0 | 7–31 | 21.0 | 5–81 | ||
| ≥ 45 | 218 | 22.0 | 12–51 | 29.0 | 4–114 | ||
| Sex | 0.33 | 0.95 | |||||
| Male | 423 | 17.0 | 8–30 | 22.0 | 4–95 | ||
| Female | 283 | 19.0 | 8–45 | 23.0 | 4–81 | ||
| Place of residence | 0.001* | 0.32 | |||||
| Urban | 271 | 15.0 | 7–30 | 19 | 4–76 | ||
| Rural | 435 | 20.0 | 9–45 | 25 | 4–100 | ||
| Educational level | < 0.001* | 0.37 | |||||
| Not literate | 411 | 21.0 | 12–55 | 26.0 | 4–109 | ||
| Literate | 295 | 15.0 | 7–25 | 20.0 | 5–61 | ||
| Marital status | 0.03* | 0.58 | |||||
| Married | 386 | 20.0 | 10–35 | 22.0 | 4–95 | ||
| Single | 205 | 15.0 | 7–30 | 20.0 | 5–69 | ||
| Divorced | 73 | 21.0 | 8–60 | 32.0 | 5–124 | ||
| Widowed | 42 | 21.0 | 11–56 | 25.0 | 7–89 | ||
| Occupation | 0.01* | 0.71 | |||||
| Civil servant | 41 | 7.0 | 5–15 | 24 | 6–49 | ||
| Housewife | 39 | 21.0 | 7–60 | 7 | 3–27 | ||
| Student | 76 | 15.0 | 7–30 | 19 | 4–58 | ||
| Farmer | 327 | 20.0 | 9–40 | 26 | 4–113 | ||
| Day laborer | 82 | 20.0 | 14–31 | 24 | 4–77 | ||
| Merchant | 47 | 15.0 | 10–22 | 14 | 4–89 | ||
| Others | 94 | 16.0 | 7–36 | 27 | 7–94 | ||
| Monthly family income (Birr) a | 0.35 | 0.22* | |||||
| 1–400 | 109 | 20.0 | 11–31 | 8.0 | 3–56 | ||
| 401–800 | 84 | 19.0 | 11–62 | 22.0 | 5–78 | ||
| ≥ 801 | 264 | 18.0 | 7–31 | 27.0 | 4–113 | ||
| No regular income | 249 | 16.0 | 7–36 | 24.0 | 4–73 | ||
| HIV sero-status | 0.68 | 0.31 | |||||
| Positive | 82 | 20.0 | 11–45 | 22.0 | 5–86 | ||
| Negative | 616 | 18.0 | 8–33 | 22.0 | 4–88 | ||
| Not known | 8 | 16.0 | 7–29 | 74.0 | 8–320 | ||
| Time travelled to the nearest health facility | 0.08 | 0.96 | |||||
| ≤ 2 h | 671 | 17.0 | 8–31 | 23 | 4–88 | ||
| > 2 h | 35 | 23.0 | 14–70 | 15 | 4–106 | ||
| Perceived to be stigmatized | 0.47 | 0.70 | |||||
| Yes | 88 | 18.0 | 8–31 | 19.0 | 4–87 | ||
| No | 618 | 19.5 | 10–39 | 23.0 | 4–88 | ||
| knowledge about TB | < 0.001* | 0.14 | |||||
| Good | 351 | 15.0 | 7–25 | 18.0 | 5–61 | ||
| Poor | 355 | 23.0 | 14–60 | 28.0 | 4–113 | ||
| Types of PTB | 0.23 | < 0.001* | |||||
| Smear-positive PTB | 334 | 16.0 | 8–31 | 15 | 3–76 | ||
| Smear-negative PTB | 372 | 19.0 | 7–39 | 27 | 7–95 | ||
| First health care seeking action | < 0.001* | 0.12 | |||||
| Visited formal health providers | 433 | 14 | 7–21 | 24 | 5–93 | ||
| Visited non -formal health providers | 223 | 60 | 24–116 | 15 | 4–86 | ||
| Self-treatment using various remedies at home | 50 | 21.5 | 15–60 | 27 | 4–85 | ||
| Type of formal health provider first visited | 0.81 | 0.02* | |||||
| Private health facilities | 280 | 20 | 8–31 | 15 | 4–70 | ||
| Public health centers | 342 | 15 | 7–37 | 31 | 5–97 | ||
| Public hospitals | 71 | 18 | 10–41 | 15 | 4–86 | ||
| Health posts | 13 | 15 | 8–30 | 29 | 10–203 | ||
Note: using non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test to compare three or more groups and Mann–Whitney test to compare two groups * statistically significant. IQR inter quartile range, PTB pulmonary tuberculosis, HIV human immunodeficiency virus