Socio-demographic determinants of treatment seeking behavior among Pulmonary Tuberculosis suspects attending tertiary care centre of Jharkhand

IntroductionHealth care seeking is a central issue in all kinds of morbidity, since the duration of symptoms increases the probability of severe morbidity and harmful sequelae. Aim and Objectives1.To find out duration and main reasons responsible for patient delay.2.To assess socio demographic determinants of patient delay. Material and methodsThe present study was cross sectional, descriptive and hospital based study. The total study duration was 15 months (March 2013-May 2014).Data was collected in Medicine OPD of RIMS from May2013 to March-2014(eleven months). 656 patients (>14 yrs.) having cough of two weeks or, more with or, without other symptoms suggestive of Pulmonary Tuberculosis(PTB) were taken as study subjects by the use of simple random sampling. A pre tested, semi structured questionnaire was used for data collection after getting their written consent which contains all necessary information regarding socio demographic profile, duration and reasons for patient delay. Statistical analysis was done by using descriptive statistics. Data were collected in a predesigned Microsoft® Excel 2007.Significant association was established by the use of Chi square test (p<0.05).ResultsAmong 656 study subjects, majority (496, 75.61%) patients were having significant patient delay (>30 days).It was found that out of 496 patients with significant patient delay, most (202, 30.79%) of the patients took self medication from local shops for their initial symptoms. Majority of the cough symptomatic of every age group, females, illiterate, lower socioeconomic class, smokers and alcoholics had significant patient delay. Conclusion-Adequate Information, education and communication(IEC) materials should be disseminated in the community regarding early diagnosis and treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis.