Socio-cultural determinants of timely and delayed treatment of Buruli ulcer: implications for disease control

Table 3 Unadjusted (univariate) analysis of socio-cultural variables associated with timely and delayed treatment*

Explanatory variables	Timely treatment N = 178	P-values
Explanatory variables	OR (95% CI)	P-values
Patterns of distress
Pain	0.5 ( 0.21, 1.20)	0.118
Functional disability	0.4 (0.20, 0.91)	0.029
Disrupted education	0.8 (0.44, 1.65)	0.628
Loss of income	0.4 (0.20, 0.92)	0.030
Anxiety	0.6 (0.33, 1.27)	0.204
Embarrassed about condition	0.6 (0.29, 1.11)	0.098
Recurring infection	3.0 (0.90, 9.65)	0.073
Perceived causes
Drinking unclean water	1.6 (0.83, 3.21)	0.158
Prone to illness	0.5 (0.16, 1.54)	0.229
Weakness of blood	0.6 (0.30, 1.26)	0.186
Outside-help
Herbalist	0.3 (0.15, 0.60)	0.001
Fetish/spiritualist	0.2 (0.07, 0.84)	0.025
Prayer camp	0.4 (0.16, 1.08)	0.071
Municipal health centres	2.7 (1.24, 5.88)	0.012
Government hospital outside the district	0.6 (0.22, 1.49)	0.252
Nothing	0.3 (0.06, 1.13)	0.073
Reasons for medical treatment
Easy access to health centre	8.3 (2.46, 27.94)	0.001
Self-referral	2.3 (1.13, 4.57)	0.022
Referral by family and friends	2.9 (1.39, 6.09)	0.005
Get well quickly	3.7 (1.52, 8.79)	0.004
Effectiveness of antibiotic treatment	3.1 (1.38, 6.88)	0.006

* Only variables with p-value <0.25 are shown in the table except disrupted education as a pattern of distress, because it was often mentioned in respondents’ narratives with reference to medical treatment. OR = odds ratios, CI = confidence intervals and p-values for all variables included in the adjusted model are shown in the table. Values in bold indicate statistical significance (p ≤ 0.05). Timely treatment is defined as seeking treatment < 3 months from first awareness of symptoms to appropriate help-seeking.