Ibrahim Sendagire|Maarten Schim van der Loeff|Mesach Mubiru|Joseph Konde-Lule|Frank Cobelens
Long Delays and Missed Opportunities in Diagnosing Smear-Positive Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Kampala, Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study
Kampala Capital City Authority|Academic Medical Center|Public Health Service of Amsterdam|Kampala Capital City Authority|Makerere University|Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development|Academic Medical Center
background early detection treatment tuberculosis cases hallmark successful tuberculosis control conducted crosssectional study public primary health facilities kampala city uganda quantify diagnostic delay among pulmonary tuberculosis ptb patients assess associated factors describe trajectories patients health care seeking methodologyprincipal findings semistructured interviews new smearpositive ptb patients 15 years registered treatment april 2007 april 2008 253 patients studied median total delay 8 weeks iqr 412 median patient delay 4 weeks interquartile range iqr 18 median health service delay 4 weeks iqr 28 long total delay 14 weeks observed 61253 241 patients long health service delay 6 weeks 71242 293 long patient delay 8 weeks 47242 194 patients knew tb curable less likely long total delay adjusted odds ratio aor 028 95ci 011073 long patient delay aor 036 95ci 013097 female aor 198 95ci 106371 staying 5 years current residence aor 224 95ci 118427 tested hiv aor 372 95ci 142975 associated long health service delay health service delay contributed 50 total delay ninetyone percent 231 patients visited one health care providers diagnosed average median 4 visits range 130 four patients systemic symptoms time diagnosis tb made conclusionssignificance diagnostic delay among tuberculosis patients kampala common long reflects patients waiting long seeking care health services waiting systemic symptoms present examining sputum smears results missed opportunities diagnosis