International Journal of Medicine and Health Development (Jan 2016)
Assessing the influence of socio demographic factors on awareness of tuberculosis symptoms, modes of transmission and management among tuberculous patients in Enugu State, South East Nigeria: A cross-sectional survey
Abstract
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic bacteria air borne disease that primarily affects the lungs. The awareness of the symptoms and signs of TB including modes of transmission was found to be influenced by patients' socio-demographics. It was important to understand the extent of this relationship in our study and at the end the results were used to produce strategies and initiatives on TB control and management. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of patients' socio demographic factors on the knowledge of the symptoms and signs of TB including modes of transmission and at the end use the results to produce strategies on TB control and management. Subjects and Methods: The study was cross-sectional and involved the use of interviewer-administered questionnaire for collection of data from the study participants on their knowledge of the symptoms and signs of TB including modes of transmission. Systematic sampling method was used for the study due to the ordered nature of the sampling frame. The data was entered in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 16) for analysis. The discrete data were described using frequencies and percentages, while the continuous variables were described using means and standard deviations. Results: Awareness of the symptoms and signs of TB among the respondents was high. The result showed that only about 1.6% of the respondents had good knowledge about the modes of TB transmission and a large sum of 98.4% had poor knowledge. Respondents who were aged 31-40 years had the highest level of knowledge of the symptoms and signs of TB with a statistical significance at (x2 = 11.38, p=0.01). Knowledge of symptoms and signs of TB increased with the level of education (x2 =6.03, p=0.11) and paid employment (x2 =5.56, p=0.01). Single respondents were 2.19 times more likely to have good knowledge of the symptoms and signs of TB when compared to the married respondents (95%CI: 0.79- 99.85), p=0.08. Conclusions: Tuberculosis remains a devastating public health problem in Nigeria. There was a high level of awareness of the symptoms and signs of TB but very low knowledge about the modes of transmission amongst the respondents. Abating, controlling and managing the rate of TB infection will mean foremost the education of the most vulnerable groups (the uneducated and the unemployed) and the affected communities on the symptoms, signs, causes and modes of TB transmissions. This strategy on educating the patients must be differentially organised for each group to achieve the maximum impact.
