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Table 1 Patient Characteristics by type of facility*

From: Treatment of uncomplicated malaria at public health facilities and medicine retailers in south-eastern Nigeria

 

Public

Medicine retailer

Total

 

N = 466

%

N = 1176

%

N = 1642

%

P value

Patient gender i

   Male

218

45.4

624

56.4

842

55.5

0.006

   Female

242

54.6

536

43.6

778

44.5

 

Patient age

   >15 years (adult)

185

42.8

913

79.6

1098

76.7

<0.001

   10-15 years

27

6.6

85

7.3

112

7.3

 

   5-9 years

61

12.6

71

4.6

132

5.3

 

   <5 years

193

38.0

107

8.4

300

10.7

 

Patient socioeconomic status ii

   Poorest quintile

223

46.4

343

15.7

566

18.1

<0.001

   Second quintile

97

20.4

219

20.0

316

20.1

 

   Third quintile

55

11.8

219

21.3

274

20.6

 

   Fourth quintile

56

13.5

189

21.2

245

20.6

 

   Richest quintile

35

8.0

206

21.8

241

20.7

 

Education level of patient (or caregiver) iii

   No formal education

25

5.8

41

1.3

66

1.6

<0.001

   Primary education

116

28.0

198

12.5

314

13.7

 

   Secondary education

213

46.1

469

39.7

682

40.2

 

   Tertiary education

93

20.0

445

46.6

538

44.5

 

Was first time sought treatment iv

   Yes

269

61.4

896

81.7

1165

81.1

<0.001

   No

196

38.7

273

18.3

469

19.9

 

Number of days since start of symptoms v

   None (same day)

14

3.3

234

22.1

248

20.6

<0.001

   1 day

71

12.6

259

21.2

330

20.5

 

   2 days

93

19.3

228

21.2

321

21.1

 

   3-5 days

202

45.4

284

23.5

486

25.3

 

   6+ days

85

19.4

169

12.0

254

12.6

 

Reasons given for choice of health facility vi

   Convenient

229

49.2

617

55.9

846

55.4

0.284

   Used previously

243

48.6

732

54.7

975

54.2

0.346

   Good reputation

145

30.1

529

49.6

674

48.1

0.002

   Availability of drugs

127

23.3

548

48.7

675

46.7

0.001

   Inexpensive

206

46.2

178

13.3

384

15.9

<0.001

   Qualification of staff

132

24.7

174

12.9

306

13.9

0.011

  1. i missing 22 responses: 6 from public and 16 from medicine retailer
  2. ii Principal components analysis was undertaken to generate a SES index based on household asset ownership [33]. The SES index was disaggregated into wealth quintiles.
  3. iii missing 42 responses: 19 from public and 23 from medicine retailer
  4. iv missing 8 responses: 1 from public and 7 from medicine retailer
  5. v missing 3 responses: 1 from public and 2 from medicine retailer
  6. vi more than one reason could be given