How much do Patients Suffering from Pulmonary Tuberculosis Know about their Disease?
Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the major global health threats leading to morbidity and mortality [1,2]. One in three persons across the world representing 2–3 billion individuals are known to be infected with Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (M. Tuberculosis), and of these 5–15% are likely to develop active TB disease during their lifetime [3]. In 2014, an estimated 9.6 million people fell ill due to TB, around 1.5 million people died from the disease including 1.1 million HIV-negative persons and 400,000 HIV patients [3]. While TB is present in every country majority of TB sufferers live in low and middle income countries especially in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia [2]. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made towards TB control with most of the TB targets set as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) [3]. TB mortality for instance has declined by 47% since 1990, with nearly all of that happening in the era of the MDGs. In all, effective diagnosis and treatment of TB has been estimated to have saved over 40 million lives between 2000 and 2014 [3].
Tables
| Knowledge variables | *Score | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-test | Post-test | ||
| Mean | Mean | ||
| Epidemiology | |||
| TB is an infectious disease | 0.59 | 0.95 | <0.003 |
| TB is a bacterial infection | 0.55 | 0.96 | <0.001 |
| TB is transmitted through coughing out droplets | 0.6 | 0.93 | <0.001 |
| TB is transmitted through sneezing | 0.55 | 0.91 | <0.004 |
| Symptoms | |||
| Coughing for 3 weeks or more | 0.65 | 0.99 | <0.001 |
| Coughing up blood | 0.33 | 0.93 | <0.001 |
| Weight loss | 0.32 | 0.85 | <0.003 |
| Night fever | 0.37 | 0.89 | <0.003 |
| Night sweats | 0.39 | 0.83 | <0.006 |
| Prevention/ Management | |||
| Avoid crowding | 0.45 | 0.87 | <0.006 |
| Cover mouth and nose on coughing | 0.52 | 0.91 | <0.009 |
| Complete your treatment (compliance) | 0.39 | 0.91 | <0.006 |
| Score*: of correct answers |
Table 1: Patients’ Knowledge about various aspects of pulmonary TB (n=150).
References
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Raviglione M, Sulis G (2016) Tuberculosis 2015: Burden, Challenges and Strategy for Control and Elimination. Infect Dis Rep 8(2): 6570.
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Maartens G, Wilkinson RJ (2007) Tuberculosis. Lancet 370: 2030-2043.
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WHO (2015) Global Tuberculosis Report 2015, 20th (Edn.), Geneva, Switzerland:, World Health Organization 2015.
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Dye, C Floyd K (2006) Tuberculosis. In: Jamison DT, et al. (Eds), Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, 2nd (Edn.), New York: Oxford University Press.
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CDC (2016) How TB Spreads, Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Campbell IA, Bah Sow O (2006) Pulmonary tuberculosis: diagnosis and treatment. BMJ 332(7551): 1194-1197.
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Hassan AO, Olukolade R, Ogbuji QC, Afolabi S, Okwuonye LC, et al. (2017) Knowledge about Tuberculosis: A Precursor to Effective TB Control—Findings from a Follow-Up National KAP Study on Tuberculosis among Nigerians. Tuberculosis Research and Treatment 2017: 6309092.
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Haggag SA, Abosrea MM, Eassa S (2012) Improving community knowledge and attitude towards pulmonary tuberculosis in Zagazig district –Sharkia governorate through application of interventional health education program. Afro-Egypt J Infect Endem Dis 2(2): 77-86.
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Mondal MNI, Shitan M (2013) Impact of socio-health factors on life expectancy in the low and lower middle income countries. Iran J Public Health 42(12): 1354- 1362.
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Mondal MNI, Nazrul HM, Chowdhury MRK, Howard J (2014) Socio-demographic factors affecting knowledge level of Tuberculosis patients in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh. Afr Health Sci 14(4): 855-865.
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Choi H, Chung H, Muntaner C, Lee M, Kim Y (2016) The impact of social conditions on patient adherence to pulmonary tuberculosis treatment, Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 20(7): 948-954.
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Yousif KI, EIMaki M, Babikir RKM, Abuaisha H (2021) The effect of an educational intervention on awareness of various aspects of pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with the disease. East Mediterr Health J 27(3) (in press).
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