Access to tuberculosis care: What did chronic cough patients experience in the way of healthcare-seeking?

Aims: The directly observed treatment-short course (DOTS) has been adopted in China's modern tuberculosis (TB) control programme since 1992. However, the case detection rate of TB is far below the global 70% target. The aims of this study are to analyse the healthcare-seeking experiences and economic burden of potential TB patients with more than two weeks of cough in counties with and without a DOTS project and to explore the barriers to access for potential TB patients in rural China. Methods: A cross-sectional study using questionnaire interviews was conducted in a DOTS project county (Jianhu) and a non-DOTS county (Funing) in Jiangsu Province. A total of 1,204 chronic cough hospital patients were interviewed about their care-seeking experiences. Result: The mean patient delays were 34 and 29 days respectively in Jianhu and Funing (p=0.070). A shorter patient delay was associated with the availability of medical insurance (RR=1.36, p