ArticleBMC infectious diseases2006
Patient and health care system delays in the start of tuberculosis treatment in Norway.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 136 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Time delays in diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis: a systematic review of literature.BMC infectious diseases · 2009Pooled it
- A systematic review of delay in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis.BMC public health · 2008Pooled it
- Delays in tuberculosis care among the top-ten-tuberculosis-high burden countries in the world: a scoping review.The Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association · 2026Review
- Disseminated PrimaryCase reports in infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Healthcare-seeking pathway and delay analysis of rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis patient in Southwestern China.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Diagnostic and treatment delay in extrapulmonary tuberculosis and association with mortality: Experiences from Mbeya, Tanzania.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Factors associated with tuberculosis care-seeking and diagnostic delays among childhood pulmonary tuberculosis in Zhejiang Province, China: a 10-year retrospective study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Healthcare seeking behavior and delays in case of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis patients in Bangladesh: Findings from a cross-sectional survey.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Factors associated with diagnostic delay of pulmonary tuberculosis among children and adolescents in Quzhou, China: results from the surveillance data 2011-2021.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Health system delay and its associated factors among tuberculosis patients in Gamo Zone public health facilities, Southern Ethiopia: An institution-based cross-sectional study.Journal of clinical tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases · 2022Article
- Gender Differences in Factors Associated with the Total Delay in Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study in Selangor, Malaysia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Symptoms to script: delays in tuberculosis treatment in the west of Ireland.Irish journal of medical science · 2022Article
- The probability of diagnostic delays for tuberculosis and its associated risk factors in northwest Iran from 2005 to 2016: a survival analysis using tuberculosis surveillance data.Epidemiology and health · 2022Article
- Delayed diagnosis of active pulmonary tuberculosis - potential risk factors for patient and healthcare delays in Portugal.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Article
- Assessment of delayed tuberculosis diagnosis preceding diagnostic confirmation among tuberculosis patients attending Isiolo County level four hospital, Kenya.The Pan African medical journal · 2021Article
- Uncovering reasons for treatment initiation delays among children with TB in Lima, Peru.The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease · 2020Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDelay in start of tuberculosis (TB) treatment has an impact at both the individual level, by increasing the risk of morbidity and mortality, and at the community level, by increasing the risk of transmission. The aims of this study were to assess the delays in the start of treatment for TB patients in Oslo/Akershus region, Norway and to analyze risk factors for the delays.
methodsThis study was based on information from the National TB Registry, clinical case notes from hospitals and referral case notes from primary health care providers. Delays were divided into patient, health care system and total delays. The association with sex, birthplace, site of the disease and age group was analyzed by multiple linear regression.
resultsAmong the 83 TB patients included in this study, 71 (86%) were born abroad. The median patient, health care system and total delays were 28, 33 and 63 days respectively, with a range of 1-434 days. In unadjusted analysis, patient delay and health care system delay did not vary significantly between men and women, according to birthplace or age group. Patients with extra-pulmonary TB had a significantly longer patient, health care system and total delay compared to patients with pulmonary TB. Median total delay was 81 and 56 days in the two groups of TB patients respectively. The health care system delay exceeded the patient delay for those born in Norway. The age group 60+ years had significantly shorter patient delay than the reference group aged 15-29 years when adjusted for multiple covariates. Also, in the multivariate analysis patients born in Norway had significantly longer health care system delay than patients born abroad.
conclusionA high proportion of patients had total delays in start of TB treatment exceeding two months. This study emphasizes the need of awareness of TB in the general population and among health personnel. Extra-pulmonary TB should be considered as a differential diagnosis in unresolved cases, especially for immigrants from high TB prevalence countries.
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