PLOS ONE · 11 authors, 11 centres
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This cross-sectional study from a national survey found that most people with tuberculosis symptoms in South Africa had not sought care, often because they considered symptoms benign or faced access barriers. Those with unknown HIV status or who smoked were significantly less likely to seek care for symptoms.
This study analyzed data from the first South African national tuberculosis (TB) prevalence survey (2017–2019) to investigate healthcare seeking for TB symptoms. Of 35,191 participants, 5,168 reported at least one symptom. The cross-sectional design used logistic regression to identify factors associated with not seeking care. Among symptomatic participants, 66.6% had not sought care. Among the 98 symptomatic participants diagnosed with bacteriologically confirmed TB who had not sought care, 57 had not sought care, with similar reasons reported. Logistic regression showed that those with unknown HIV status (OR 0.16) and those who smoked tobacco products (OR 0.39) were significantly less likely to seek care. The findings suggest a need for stronger community-based TB awareness and screening to improve healthcare entry.
