Factors Associated with Health-Seeking Preference Among People Who Were Supposed to Cough for More Than 2 Weeks: A Cross-Sectional Study in Southeast China

Figures & data

Table 1 Sociodemographic Characteristics and Differences in Health-Seeking Preference of Participants in Zhejiang, China (n=7174)

Item	Total	Health-Seeking Preference in the Scenario of Having a Cough Persisting for at Least 2 Weeks
		Inappropriate		Appropriate		χ^2	p
	N	n (%)		m (%)
Sex						0.86	0.353
Male	3323	451 (13.60)		2872 (86.40)
Female	3851	494 (12.80)		3357 (87.20)
Residence						0.85	0.358
Urban	3097	421 (13.60)		2676 (86.40)
Rural	4077	524 (12.90)		3553 (87.10)
Marital status						15.05	0.001
Married	6151	792 (12.90)		5359 (87.10)
Unmarried	691	86 (12.40)		605 (87.60)
Divorced or widowed	332	67 (20.20)		265 (79.80)
Age group (y)						111.22	<0.001
12–20	287	26 (9.10)		261 (90.90)
20–30	635	81 (12.80)		554 (87.20)
30–40	1052	84 (8.00)		968 (92.00)
40–50	1443	132 (9.10)		1311 (90.90)
50–60	1805	248 (13.70)		1557 (86.30)
60–75	1952	374 (19.20)		1578 (80.80)
Education						216.40	<0.001
Illiterate	817	220 (26.90)		597 (73.10)
Primary school	1786	285 (16.00)		1501 (84.00)
Junior middle school	2328	263 (11.30)		2065 (88.70)
High school	999	100 (10.00)		899 (90.00)
Junior college	561	32 (5.70)		529 (94.30)
University and higher	683	45 (6.60)		638 (93.40)
Occupation						93.07	<0.001
Administrative staff	323	30 (9.30)		293 (90.70)
Health care workers	153	3 (2.00)		150 (98.00)
Teachers	223	10 (4.50)		213 (95.50)
Professional technicians	585	58 (9.90)		527 (90.10)
Business/service personnel	933	104 (11.10)		829 (88.90)
Industrial workers	960	106 (11.00)		854 (89.00)
Farmers	2679	453 (16.90)		2226 (83.10)
Student	320	26 (8.10)		294 (91.90)
Unemployed	998	155 (15.50)		843 (84.50)
“Do you know about Tuberculosis?”						253.79	<0.001
No	1161	321 (27.60)		840 (72.40)
Yes	6013	624 (10.40)		5389 (89.60)

Table 2 The Association Between Knowledge of TB and Health-Seeking Preference Among Participants Who Knew About TB in Zhejiang, China (n=6013)

Item	Total	Health-Seeking Preference in the Scenario of Having a Cough Persisting for at Least 2 Weeks
		Inappropriate		Appropriate		χ^2	p
	N	n	%	N-n	%
“Do you believe TB is infectious?”						40.26	<0.001
No/unknown	591	106	(17.90)	485	(82.10)
Yes	5422	518	(9.60)	4904	(90.40)
“Should we suspect TB if we have coughed for more than two weeks?”						69.97	<0.001
No	3845	494	(12.80)	3351	(87.20)
Yes	2168	130	(6.00)	2038	(94.00)
“Did you know whether TB should be treated in designated TB hospital?”						203.8	<0.001
No	1987	365	(18.40)	1622	(81.60)
Yes	4026	259	(6.40)	3767	(93.60)
“Do you know about the free policy about TB diagnosis and first-line drugs?”						45.03	<0.001
No	3729	464	(12.40)	3265	(87.60)
Yes	2284	160	(7.00)	2124	(93.00)
“Do you believe TB can be cured?”						126.34	<0.001
No	1305	245	(18.80)	1060	(81.20)
Yes	4708	379	(8.10)	4329	(91.90)
Numbers correctly answered for 5 items of TB key information						285.95	<0.001
0	134	37	(27.60)	97	(72.40)
1	611	149	(24.40)	462	(75.60)
2	1127	172	(15.30)	955	(84.70)
3	1654	139	(8.40)	1515	(91.60)
4	1654	99	(6.00)	1555	(94.00)
5	833	28	(3.40)	805	(96.60)

Abbreviation: TB, tuberculosis.

Table 3 Predictors of Health-Seeking Preference Among Participants Who Knew About TB in Zhejiang, China (n=6013)

Item	Health-Seeking Preference in the Scenario of Having a Cough for at Least 2 Weeks
	Appropriate/Total	AOR (95% CI)	p
Residence
Urban	2384/2672	1
Rural	3005/3341	1.54 (1.26–1.88)	<0.001
Marriage status
Married	4682/5214	1
Unmarried	499/560	0.52 (0.36–0.76)	0.001
Divorced or widowed	208/239	1.10 (0.73–1.65)	0.65
Education level
Illiterate	441/550	1
Primary school	1230/1403	1.60 (1.21–2.11)	0.001
Junior middle school	1773/1970	1.66 (1.26–2.20)	<0.001
High school	830/907	1.92 (1.35–2.74)	<0.001
Junior college	503/527	4.02 (2.36–6.83)	<0.001
≥University	612/656	2.45 (1.49–4.02)	<0.001
Occupation
Farmer	1825/2102	1
Administrative staff	281/308	1.04 (0.62–1.75)	0.878
Health care worker	147/148	10.68 (1.44–79.13)	0.02
Teacher	206/216	2.09 (0.99–4.40)	0.052
Professional technician	490/538	1.27 (0.86–1.86)	0.232
Business/service personnel	745/821	1.45 (1.06–1.98)	0.02
Industrial worker	771/847	1.55 (1.16–2.06)	0.003
Student	221/240	3.79 (2.04–7.06)	<0.001
Unemployed	703/709	1.72 (1.29–2.29)	<0.001
“Should TB be suspected if a cough and expectoration persists for >2 weeks?”
No	3351/3845	1
Yes	2038/2168	1.52 (1.23–1.88)	<0.001
“Do you know TB should be treated in designated TB hospital?”
No	1622/1987	1
Yes	3767/4026	2.24 (1.85–2.70)	<0.001
“Do you know about the free policy about TB diagnosis and first-line drugs?”
No	3265/3729	1
Yes	2124/2284	1.23 (1.01–1.51)	0.044
“Do you believe TB can be cured?”
No	1060/1305	1
Yes	4329/4708	1.84 (1.53–2.22)	<0.001

Abbreviations: AOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; TB, tuberculosis.

Figure 1 The association between knowledge of TB and health-seeking behavior among participants who knew about TB in Zhejiang, China (n=6013).

Notes: 1) When residence, education, marriage, and occupation were adjusted for, participants with higher scores based on correct answers on five items of key information were more likely to get appropriate health-seeking preference. 2) Compared to participants with a score of 0, participants with a score of 5 were 8.57 times more likely (95% CI, 4.97–14.78) to have appropriate health-seeking preference, followed by participants with a score of 4 (OR=5.99; 95% CI, 3.23–8.03), a score of 3 (OR=3.74; 95% CI, 2.44–5.74); a score of 2 (OR=1.99; 95% CI, 1.30–3.02); and a score of 1 (OR=1.17; 95% CI, 0.76–1.80). 3) Appropriate health-seeking preference of the participants increased as the key knowledge scores increased.