Trial reportBMC health services research2019
Patient predictors of health-seeking behaviour for persons coughing for more than two weeks in high-burden tuberculosis communities: the case of the Western Cape, South Africa.
Trial report in BMC health services research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Patient delay in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2020Pooled it
- Multidimensional Poverty and Implementation Reach of Household Contact Tracing for Tuberculosis in South Africa: Analysis of a Randomized Trial.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Trial
- Article
- Integrating health literacy, health promotion, and digital health in tuberculosis prevention: An ecosystemic competency framework and CIMO-based systematic review.Veterinary world · 2026Article
- Diabetic Retinopathy Prevalence and Incidence in Zimbabwe: The Feasibility of Digital Fundoscopy Screening.Journal of diabetes research · 2026Observational
- Reflections on qualitative research: Lessons learned to ensure research integrity.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2025Article
- Cognitive dissonance in tuberculosis stigma: A mixed methods analysis of tuberculosis stigma measurement in South Africa.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Safety of Janssen Ad26.COV.S and Astra Zeneca AZD1222 COVID-19 Vaccines among Mobile Phone Users in Malawi: Findings from a National Mobile-Based Syndromic Surveillance Survey, July 2021 to December 2021.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- How many of persistent coughers have pulmonary tuberculosis? Population-based cohort study in Ethiopia.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Time to care-seeking for TB symptoms.The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease · 2022Article
- Primary healthcare seeking behaviour of low-income patients across the public and private health sectors in South Africa.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Health seeking behavior and associated factors among individuals with cough in Yiwu, China: a population-based study.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Assessing Factors Associated with TB Awareness in Nepal: A National and Subnational Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- "I got tested at home, the help came to me": acceptability and feasibility of home-based TB testing of household contacts using portable molecular diagnostics in South Africa.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2021Article
- Community health workers augment the cascade of TB detection to care in urban slums of two metro cities in India.Journal of global health · 2021Article
- Tuberculosis Knowledge and Delayed Health Care Seeking Among New Diagnosed Tuberculosis Patients in Primary Health Facilities in an Urban District, South Africa.Health services insights · 2021Article
- 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.Patient preference and adherence · 2020Article
- Active versus passive case finding for tuberculosis in marginalised and vulnerable populations in India: comparison of treatment outcomes.Global health action · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThis study aimed to analyse the patient predictors of health-seeking behaviour for persons coughing for more than 2 weeks to better understand this vulnerable and important population.
methodsThe study analysed data from a cohort study (SOCS - Secondary Outcome Cohort Study) embedded in a community randomised trial ZAMSTAR (Zambia and South Africa TB and AIDS Reduction Study) in eight high-burden TB communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. These datasets are unique as they contain TB-related data as well as data on health, health-seeking behaviour, lifestyle choices, employment, socio-economic status, education and stigma. We use uni- and multivariate logistic regressions to estimate the odds ratios of consulting for a cough (of more than 2 weeks duration) for a range of relevant patient predictors.
resultsThree hundred and forty persons consulted someone about their cough and this represents 37% of the 922 participants who reported coughing for more than 2 weeks. In the multivariate analysis, respondents of black ethnic origin (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.28-3.12, P < 0.01), those with higher levels of education (OR 1.05 per year of education, 95% CI 1.00-1.10, P = 0.05), and older respondents (OR 1.02 per year, 95% CI 1.01-1.04, P < 0.01) had a higher likelihood of consulting for their chronic cough. Individuals who smoked (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.45-0.88, P < 0.01) and those with higher levels of socio-economic status (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.71-0.92, P < 0.01) were less likely to consult. We find no evidence of stigma playing a role in health-seeking decisions, but caution that this may be due to the difficulty of accurately and reliably capturing stigma due to, amongst other factors, social desirability bias.
conclusionsThe low levels of consultation for a cough of more than 2 weeks suggest that there are opportunities to improve case-finding. These findings on health-seeking behaviour can assist policymakers in designing TB screening and active case-finding interventions that are targeted to the characteristics of those with a chronic cough who do not seek care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.