Caregiver responses and association with delayed care-seeking in children with uncomplicated and severe malaria

Malaria Journal

Table 1 Care-seeking characteristics of caregivers responding to illness of their children with uncomplicated and severe malaria

Variable	Caregivers of children with uncomplicated malaria	Caregivers of children with severe malaria	p value
Total number of caregivers, N	325	325
Median time in days taken to seek appropriate treatment; (IQR)	1.70 (0.91–2.87)	2.45 (1.62–3.81)	< 0.001
Median number of actions taken before seeking appropriate treatment; (IQR)	3 (2–4)	4 (3–6)	< 0.001
Stayed home not on medication	82 (25.2%)	67 (20.6%)	0.169
Stayed home on medication	186 (57.2%)	137 (42.1%)	< 0.001
Drug shop	40 (12.3%)	104 (32.0%)	< 0.001
Non-biomedical provider	2 (0.62) %	1 (0.3%)	0.563
Private clinic	0	1 (0.3%)	*
Initial response-type by caregivers, n (%)^a
Health centre II	0	5 ((1.5%)	0.020
Initial health centre III/IV	0	6 (1.8%)	0.014
Enrolling health centre III/IV	11 (3.3%)	0	< 0.001
Initial public hospital	0	2 (0.6%)	0.157
Enrolling public hospital	4 (1.2%)	2 (0.6%)	0.414
Total number of responses taken by caregivers, N	1172	1551
Stayed home not on medication	254 (21.7%)	276 (17.8%)	0.010
Stayed home on medication	497 (42.4%)	403 (26.0%)	< 0.001
Drug shop	80 (6.8%)	284 (18.3%)	< 0.001
Non-biomedical provider	8 (0.7%)	7 (0.5%)	0.478
Total number of types of responses by caregivers, n (%)^d
Private clinic	0	47 (3.0%)	< 0.001
Health centre II	0	19 (1.2%)	< 0.001
Initial health centre III/IV^b	7 (0.6%)	96 (6.2%)	< 0.001
Enrolling health centre III/IV	258 (22.0%)	0	NA
Initial public hospital^b	1 (0.1%)	94 (6.1%)	< 0.001
Enrolling public hospital^c	67 (5.7%)	325 (21.0%)	NA

NA not applicable
* Insufficient numbers
^aColumn frequency: numerator: number of type of initial response; denominator: number of caregivers of cases or controls
^bInitial public facilities where caregiver sought care before enrollment
^cEnrolling public facilities (level III and above) where caregivers sought care and were provided appropriate care and had their children enrolled in the study
^dColumn frequency: numerator: total number of responses taken by caregivers; denominator: total number of actions taken by caregivers of cases or controls

ISSN: 1475-2875