Table 2.
Predictors of any treatment-seeking among those experiencing fever in the previous month in Western Kenya, 2015
| Predictors | Highlands | Lowlands | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sought treatment | Sought treatment | |||||
| Total N | n (%) | Crude OR (95% CI) | Total N | n (%) | Crude OR (95% CI) | |
| Self-reported symptoms* | ||||||
| Fever alone | 11 | 8 (2.2) | 0.62 (0.12–3.32) | 167 | 28 (8.1) | 0.19 (0.11–0.33) |
| Fever + aches | 37 | 30 (8.4) | 1.00 [reference] | 208 | 107 (31.1) | 1.00 [reference] |
| Fever + aches + digestive | 230 | 220 (61.3) | 5.13 (1.87–14.09) | 63 | 53 (15.4) | 5.00 (2.35–10.70) |
| Fever + aches + respiratory | 31 | 29 (8.1) | 3.38 (0.64–18.01) | 68 | 55 (16.0) | 3.99 (1.99–8.02) |
| Fever + other symptoms | 81 | 72 (20.1) | 1.87 (0.60–5.78) | 141 | 101 (29.4) | 2.38 (1.47–3.87) |
| Perceived malaria severity† | ||||||
| Low | 47 | 42 (11.9) | 1.00 [reference] | 64 | 57 (16.6) | 1.00 [reference] |
| Moderate | 291 | 273 (77.1) | 1.81 (0.64–5.09) | 242 | 133 (38.8) | 0.15 (0.06–0.35) |
| High | 47 | 39 (11.0) | 0.58 (0.14–2.49) | 340 | 153 (44.6) | 0.10 (0.04–0.22) |
| Gender | ||||||
| Female | 233 | 215 (60.1) | 1.00 [reference] | 370 | 214 (62.2) | 1.00 [reference] |
| Male | 156 | 143 (39.9) | 0.92 (0.44–1.94) | 277 | 130 (37.8) | 0.64 (0.47–0.88) |
| Household wealth quartile | ||||||
| Lowest | 96 | 93 (25.9) | 1.00 [reference] | 109 | 63 (18.3) | 1.00 [reference] |
| Second | 171 | 158 (44.0) | 0.39 (0.10–1.55) | 118 | 69 (20.1) | 1.03 (0.55–1.93) |
| Third | 53 | 47 (13.1) | 0.25 (0.06–1.04) | 190 | 115 (33.4) | 1.12 (0.62–2.01) |
| Highest | 70 | 61 (17.0) | 0.22 (0.06–0.84) | 230 | 97 (28.2) | 0.53 (0.30–0.94) |
| Education of household head‡ | ||||||
| No education | 19 | 17 (4.8) | 1.00 [reference] | 16 | 10 (2.9) | 1.00 [reference] |
| Primary or some primary | 269 | 254 (71.2) | 1.99 (0.41–9.79) | 480 | 249 (72.8) | 0.65 (0.19–2.18) |
| Secondary or some secondary | 57 | 47 (13.2) | 0.55 (0.11–2.78) | 122 | 71 (20.8) | 0.84 (0.23–3.01) |
| Other | 43 | 39 (10.9) | 1.15 (0.20–6.54) | 25 | 12 (3.5) | 0.55 (0.13–2.32) |
| Age category§ | ||||||
| Young children | 86 | 81 (22.6) | 1.00 [reference] | 156 | 96 (27.9) | 1.00 [reference] |
| School children | 121 | 110 (30.6) | 0.62 (0.19–2.02) | 181 | 106 (30.8) | 0.88 (0.56–1.38) |
| Young adults | 61 | 55 (15.3) | 0.57 (0.16–1.99) | 145 | 61 (17.7) | 0.45 (0.28–0.73) |
| Adults | 91 | 83 (23.1) | 0.64 (0.22–1.86) | 124 | 61 (17.7) | 0.61 (0.38–0.96) |
| Elderly | 31 | 30 (8.4) | 1.85 (0.21–16.6) | 41 | 20 (5.8) | 0.60 (0.29–1.21) |
CI = confidence interval; OR = odds ratio.
Aches includes body aches and headaches; digestive symptoms include inability to feed, diarrhea, and vomiting; respiratory symptoms includes cough, difficulty breathing, and fast breathing; other symptoms includes convulsions/loss of consciousness, rash, and symptom combinations not otherwise classified.
Perceived malaria severity was defined as the sum of two household-level questions about perceived malaria severity that were each ranked on a scale of 1 (least severe) to 5 (most severe), and each household was then categorized as low = 2–4, moderate = 5–7, or high = 8–10 perceived severity.
Based on the education level of the female household head; “Other” educational level includes tertiary education, other and no female household head.
Young children includes ≤ 5 years; school children include > 5 – ≤ 15 years; young adults include > 15 – ≤ 30 years; adults include > 30 – ≤ 60 years; elderly include > 60 years.