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Table 1 Demographic and selected behavioural factors of the travellers' cohort.

From: Diarrhoea in a large prospective cohort of European travellers to resource-limited destinations

 

Total

subgroups

  

TD

n = 962

mild diarrhoea

n = 303

no diarrhoea abroad

n = 1535

Classic TD

n = 785

Sex

n = 2800

    

Female

1406 (50.2)

466 (33.1)

151 (10.7)

789 (56.1)

400 (28.4)

Male

1394 (49.8)

496 (35.6)

152 (10.9)

746 (53.5)

385 (27.6)

Age group, years 1)

n = 2672

    

18-30

829 (31.0)

338 (40.8)

93 (11.2)

389 (46.9)

292 (35.2)

31-40

882 (33.0)

283 (32.1)

102 (11.6)

497 (56.3)

230 (26.1)

41-60

734 (27.5)

242 (33.0)

76 (10.4)

416 (56.7)

186 (25.3)

>60

227 (8.5)

55 (24.2)

18 (7.9)

154 (67.8)

40 (17.6)

Origin (first 5 years of life)

n = 2764

    

European

2616 (94.6)

899 (34.4)

287 (11.0)

1430 (54.7)

734 (28.0)

TD high risk country2)

75 (2.7)

25 (33.3)

6 (8.0)

44 (58.7)

19 (25.3)

other

73 (2.6)

24 (32.9)

8 (10.9)

41 (56.2)

19 (26.0)

Education

n = 2745

    

Vocational school level 1 3)

588 (21.4)

196 (33.3)

71 (12.1)

324 (55.1)

151 (25.7)

Vocational school level 2 4)

754 (27.5)

258 (34.2)

75 (9.9)

421 (55.8)

212 (28.1)

University

1403 (51.1)

504 (35.9)

152 (10.8)

758 (54.0)

407 (29.0)

Destination5)

n = 2790

    

Africa

903 (32.4)

313 (34.7)

107 (11.8)

483 (53.5)

246 (27.2)

Asia

1266 (45.4)

407 (32.1)

126 (10.0)

733 (57.9)

335 (26.5)

Latin America

617 (22.1)

234 (37.9)

70 (11.3)

313 (50.7)

202 (32.7)

Travel type

n = 1750

    

Tourism

1539 (87.9)

545 (35.4)

173 (11.2)

821 (53.3)

444 (28.8)

Family/VFR

90 (5.1)

42 (46.6)

15 (16.6)

33 (36.7)

36 (40.0)

Business

121 (10.8)

37 (30.6)

10 (8.3)

74 (61.2)

27 (22.3)

Travel duration, weeks 1)

n = 2800

    

mean ± sd

3.2 ± 1.6

3.6 ± 1.9

3.2 ± 1.6

3.0 ± 1.4

3.7 ± 1.9

median (range)

3 (1-8)

3 (1-8)

3 (1-8)

3 (1-8)

3 (1-8)

1-3 weeks

1849 (66.0)

560 (30.3)

206 (11.1)

1083 (58.6)

447 (24.2)

3.5 -5 weeks

674 (24.1)

249 (36.9)

74 (11.0)

351 (52.1)

205 (82.3)

5.5-8 weeks

277 (9.9)

153 (55.2)

23 (8.3)

101 (36.5)

133 (48.0)

History of travel

n = 2768

    

Experienced

2560 (92.5)

867 (33.9)

275 (10.7)

1418 (55.4)

706 (27.6)

Newcomer (first such journey)

208 (7.5)

84 (40.4)

24 (11.5)

100 (48.1)

70 (33.6)

Smoking habits

     
 

n = 2788

    

previous smoker

1041 (37.3)

369 (35.4)

100 (9.6)

572 (54.9)

299 (28.7)

previous non-smoker

1747 (62.7)

590 (33.7)

201 (11.5)

956 (54.7)

483 (27.6)

 

n = 2793

    

smoker

872 (31.2)

314 (36.0)

81 (9.3)

477 (54.7)

263 (30.2)

non-smoker

1921 (68.8)

644 (33.5)

221 (11.5)

477 (24.8)

519 (27.0)

Daily alcohol consumption

n = 2790

    

yes

594 (21.3)

200 (33.7)

70 (11.8)

324 (54.5)

161 (27.1)

>1 glass daily

90 (15.4)

32 (35.6)

10 (11.1)

48 (53.3)

24 (26.7)

no

2196 (78.7)

757 (34.5)

231 (10.5)

324 (14.7)

620 (28.2)

  1. NOTE. TD is travellers' diarrhoea, three or more unformed stools with or without additional symptom, classic TD with at least one accompanying symptom, mild diarrhoea one or two unformed stools per 24 hours. VFR is visiting friends and relatives.
  2. 1) Significant. Chi square test, p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. TD patients were compared to those with no diarrhoea abroad. All other factors not significant.
  3. 2) Defined by Steffen et al. [2, 4]
  4. 3) Swiss obligatory school to apprenticeship school
  5. 4) Swiss Matura (baccalaureat, general qualification for university access) and federal diplomas
  6. 5) Oceania was omitted as only 4 travellers had visited this region
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BMC Infectious Diseases

ISSN: 1471-2334

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