Time to initial diagnosis of imported malaria and its influencing factors in Jiangsu Province
10.16250/j.32.1374.2021185
- VernacularTitle:江苏省输入性疟疾初诊时间及影响因素分析
- Author:
Guang-yu LU
1
;
Yuan-yuan CAO
2
;
Wei-ming WANG
2
;
Meng-meng YANG
2
;
Yao-bao LIU
2
;
Yu-ying ZHANG
1
;
Qi CHEN
3
;
Yan LU
4
;
Hua-yun ZHOU
2
;
Guo-ding ZHU
2
;
Jun CAO
2
Author Information
1. School of Public Health, Medical College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225007, China
2. Key Laboratory of National Health Commission on Parasitic Disease Control and Prevention, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Parasite Molecular Biology, Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214064, China
3. Institute of Global Health, University of Heidelberg, Germany
4. Health and Quarantine Office, Nanjing Customs, China
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Import malaria;
Initial diagnosis;
Health-seeking behavior;
Influencing factor;
Jiangsu Province
- From:
Chinese Journal of Schistosomiasis Control
2022;34(2):172-178
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective To investigate the health-seeking behaviors of imported malaria cases after returning to China, and to investigate the factors affecting the time to initial diagnosis, so as to provide the scientific evidence for early identification of imported malaria cases and prevention of severe cases development and secondary transmission. Methods The individual demographic features, and the disease onset and the time to initial diagnosis of imported malaria cases in Jiangsu Province in 2019 were captured from the National Notifiable Disease Report System and the Information Management System for Parasitic Disease Control in China. The characteristics of health-seeking behaviors and epidemiological features of imported malaria cases were descriptively analyzed, and the factors affecting the time to initial diagnosis of imported malaria cases after returning to China were identified using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results A total of 244 imported malaria cases were reported in Jiangsu Province in 2019, and the time to initial diagnosis of the cases were 1-12 days, with mean time of (1.53 ± 1.65) days, with median time of one day. The highest number of malaria cases seeking healthcare services were found on the day of developing primary symptoms (76 cases, 31.1%), followed by on the second day (68 cases, 27.9%), on the third day (46 cases, 18.9%), and 54 cases (22.1%) received initial diagnosis 3 days following presence of primary symptoms, including 3 cases with initial diagnosis at more than one week. High proportions of imported malaria cases with a delay in the time to initial diagnosis were seen in migrant workers who returned to China in January (14 cases, 5.7%) and December (13 cases, 5.3%) and those aged between 41 and 50 years (32 cases, 13.1%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed relative short time to initial diagnosis among imported malaria cases returning to China on March [odds ratio (OR) = 0.16, P = 0.03, 95% confidence interval (CI): (0.03, 0.85)] and those with a history of overseas malaria parasite infections [OR = 0.36, P = 0.001, 95% CI: (0.19, 0.67)]. Conclusions Timely health-seeking behaviors should be improved among imported malaria cases in Jiangsu Province, patients with a history of overseas malaria infections require faster health-seeking activities.
