Challenges TB control program; from patient's experiences

Tuberculosis is a major public health concern in Bangladesh with high morbidity and mortality rate. This mixed-method study was designed to find out the challenges faced by the TB control program at primary healthcare e settings. In this data file (Quantitative part), The TB patients were asked about their illness and treatment experiences to evaluate the gap in TB program. A total of 94 TB patients aged above 18 years were interviewed while attending the DOTS corner for a follow-up visit. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed to obtain information about the patients' socio-demographic characteristics, healthcare-seeking behavior, patient delay, health system delay and treatment delay, DOTS supervision, and health education. The question numbers (the variable name started with these question numbers in the data set) with what they represent are as below: Q1: Patient's age in completed years Q2: Initial symptoms of the patients Q4: If the patient started self-medication Q5: Patients initial visit to village doctor, local pharmacy, Imam, Priest or registered doctor and duration between initial symptom and the visit Q6: Patients visit to the registered doctor with duration between initial symptom and the visit Q7: Patients visit to any government health facility with duration between initial symptom and the visit Q8: Reason behind patient delay Q9: Diagnostic delay after visiting registered doctor Q9a: Diagnostic delay after visiting government health facility Q10: health education related questions Q11: If DOTS provider observe medicine intake Q13: DOTS provider Q 14: Treatment delay Finding: Mean patient and health system delay were 99.0 (SD = 98.7) and 42.9 (SD = 79.9) days respectively. Patient delay was related to poor care-seeking behavior, unfamiliarity with tuberculosis symptoms, and unavailability of healthcare facilities. About 74 percent of patients sought initial treatment from village doctors or drug vendors. Every second patient reported non-adherence to the directly observed treatment short-course (DOTS) guideline.结核病是孟加拉国的重大公共卫生问题，发病率与死亡率均居高不下。本混合方法研究旨在探明初级医疗卫生机构中结核病防控项目所面临的挑战。本数据集文件为研究的定量部分，研究人员向参与直接面视下短程化疗（Directly Observed Treatment Short-course, DOTS）门诊随访的结核病患者询问其患病与治疗经历，以评估结核病防控项目存在的缺口。 本次研究共访谈了94名18岁以上的结核病患者，这些患者均因随访就诊前往DOTS门诊。研究采用半结构化问卷，收集患者的社会人口学特征、就医行为、患者延迟时长、卫生系统延迟时长、治疗延迟时长、DOTS督导情况以及健康教育相关信息。 数据集内的变量名均以对应问题编号作为前缀，各问题编号及其代表内容如下： Q1：患者实足年龄 Q2：患者初始症状 Q4：患者是否曾自行用药 Q5：患者首次就诊的服务对象（乡村医生、个体药店、伊玛目、神职人员或注册医师），以及从出现初始症状至就诊的间隔时长 Q6：患者前往注册医师处就诊的情况，以及从出现初始症状至就诊的间隔时长 Q7：患者前往任一公立医疗卫生机构就诊的情况，以及从出现初始症状至就诊的间隔时长 Q8：患者延迟就诊的原因 Q9：前往注册医师处就诊后的诊断延迟时长 Q9a：前往公立医疗卫生机构就诊后的诊断延迟时长 Q10：健康教育相关问题 Q11：DOTS督导人员是否观察到患者服药 Q13：DOTS督导人员信息 Q14：治疗延迟时长 研究结果显示：患者延迟与卫生系统延迟的平均时长分别为99.0天（标准差SD=98.7）与42.9天（标准差SD=79.9）。患者延迟就诊与就医行为不佳、对结核病症状认知不足以及医疗卫生资源可及性差相关。约74%的患者初始就诊于乡村医生或药品摊贩。每两名患者中即有一人报告未依从直接面视下短程化疗（DOTS）指南。