Factors Associated with Knowledge of the Common Cold and Desire for Medical Treatment: A Cross-sectional Study of Citizens Undergoing Health Checkups
10.14442/generalist.42.2
- VernacularTitle:かぜに対する認識と受診信念に関連する要因の探索～健診受診者を対象にしたアンケート調査より～
- Author:
Naoto SAKAMOTO
;
Fumio SHAKU
;
Madoka TSUTSUMI
;
Junji HARUTA
;
Ryohei GOTO
;
Tetsuhiro MAENO
- Keywords:
Common Cold;
Desire for medical treatment;
Self-Care;
Antibiotics;
Health Literacy
- From:An Official Journal of the Japan Primary Care Association
2019;42(1):2-8
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
-
Abstract:
Introduction: We investigated the relationship between knowledge of the common cold and desire for medical treatment.Methods: We administered an anonymous self-questionnaire about the common cold to citizens receiving health checkups in City X, Ibaraki Prefecture, between August and September 2012. We assessed citizens' knowledge about the common cold and whether they sought medical treatment for it, in addition to their demographic attributes.Results: We included 1079 citizens (response rate, 74.5%) in the analysis. The majority of participants believed that receiving intravenous (IV) infusions or injections for the common cold led to faster recovery times (75.9%). Roughly half of the participants (42.0%) did not believe that antibiotics are not effective against virus-based colds, while 28.6% were unsure. Finally, endorsement of the questionnaire items "taking cold medications early leads to faster recovery" (OR: 1.61) and "IV infusions or injections lead to faster recovery times" (OR: 1.86) were associated with a desire for medical treatment.Conclusion: Our results indicate that patients' knowledge about the common cold and their understanding of treatment options available at medical institutions were inadequate. Furthermore, we found that an awareness of how cold medicines, IV infusions, or injections may shorten treatment duration was associated with a desire for treatment.
