Delay in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis: a report from Afghanistan

Table 1 Social factors associated with delays in tuberculosis treatment

Variable	N (%)	Patient delay	Health-system delay
Variable	N (%)	Days, mean (SD)	Days, mean (SD)
Gender
Male	56 (45.9)	209.4 (129.3)	161.9 (135.7)
Female	66 (54.1)	201.6 (126.7)	141.2 (84.7)
Literate
No	111 (91.0)	203.7 (128.8)	155.3 (114.1)*
Yes	11 (9.0)	219.9 (117.7)	104.4 (58.6)*
Household main earner
Patient him/herself	14 (11.5)	139.9 (158.1)*	193.1 (182.8)
Other household member	108 (88.5)	213.6 (121.3)*	145.3 (98.1)
Level of social stigma
Low	18 (15.0)	121.3 (98.5)**	205.3 (131.1)*
High >2.3	102 (85.0)	223.2 (125.4)**	143.6 (104.7)*
Site of exposure to tuberculosis patients
Elsewhere or unknown	93 (78.2)	204.1 (128.2)	160.4 (120.1)*
Tuberculosis patient at home	26 (21.8)	218.4 (127.8)	117.1 (63.9)*

Literate: people who had attended formal school(s) and were able to read and write
Social-stigma: rows mean score of 9-item scale (high: score higher than median (2.3); low: score lower than the median). High score for social stigma indicates patients’ perceptions regarding bad consequences of the diagnosis and stigma associated with tuberculosis in their society
Only the variables significantly associated with either delay, except for age and sex, are shown in the Table. Significance of difference by two-sample t-tests, or significance of Spearman’s correlation coefficients; * p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
SD standard deviation

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