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Table 6 Risk factors of contracting illness while traveling / on return in the final multivariable model after backward selection of factors by Akaike information criteriaa. Variables with p-value less than 0.10 in bivariable analysis were chosen to multivariable model. Values are given for proportions with a given risk factor, adjusted odds ratios with 95 % confidence intervals, and p-values in multivariable analysis

From: Travelers’ health problems and behavior: prospective study with post-travel follow-up

 

Proportion of those contracting

AOR (95 % CI) for contracting illness among

 

illness among travelers with

travelers with the given risk factor in multivariable

 

the given risk factor (%)

analysis with multiple imputations c

p-value

Gender

   

male

75

1.00

 

female

81

1.73 (1.03–2.91)

0.040*

Age, years b

N/A

1.06 (0.994–1.14)

0.076

Age, quadratic term b

N/A

0.999 (0.998–1.00)

0.018*

Geographic region

  

N/A

Europe, Northern America

20

1.00

 

Latin America and the Caribbean

66

7.90 (1.66–37.6)

0.009*

Northern Africa, Western Asia

67

11.9 (1.82–78.0)

0.010*

Southern Africa

62

9.72 (1.85–51.2)

0.007*

Western Africa, Middle Africa

79

15.5 (3.50–68.7)

<0.001*

Eastern Africa

84

18.5 (4.08–83.8)

<0.001*

Eastern Asia, Central Asia

56

6.41 (0.930–44.2)

0.059

South-Eastern Asia

87

21.2 (4.48–100)

<0.001*

Southern Asia

91

32.4 (6.24–168)

<0.001*

Duration of travel, days b

N/A

1.025 (1.00–1.05)

0.048*

Accommodation

  

N/A

hotel

68

1.00

 

home of a local

87

2.36 (0.922–6.06)

0.073

guest house

87

1.78 (0.940–3.36)

0.077

Eating uncooked meat/fish

   

did not eat uncooked meat/fish

81

1.00

 

ate uncooked meat/fish

66

0.303 (0.147–0.625)

0.001*

  1. Abbreviations: AOR adjusted odds ratios, CI confidence interval, N/A not applicable
  2. aBackward selection eliminated the following factors: location, other close contact with local, having insect stings, and use of utensils
  3. bAnalyzed as continuous variables. Age also on quadratic term, which seems to be better than age only in the model by AIC
  4. c10 datasets used in imputation