Community drivers of tuberculosis diagnostic delay in Kampala, Uganda: a retrospective cohort study

BMC Infectious Diseases

Table 3 Results of linear regression (with LASSO regularization) models of community contact delay

Model R²: 0.29
Variable	Estimate
Experienced, or was concerned about, bone or joint pain	16.76
Sought care for coughing blood or chest pain	0.66
Evaluation for TB due to night sweats or fever	−7.81
No relief from self-medication prompted care-seeking	−3.37
TV/Radio advertisement prompted care-seeking	5.22
Knows coughing blood or chest pain is a symptom of TB	−2.73
Knows appetite loss or weight loss is a symptom of TB	−4.95
Received cough medication	21.49
Cough disrupted daytime activity	3.88
Suspected illness was TB	−8.96
Bought supplements	−0.52
Diagnosis location - outside Rubaga	−0.29
Proportion of contacts in non-TB provider category (10% increments)^a	0.58
Total cost of reaching care^b	4.45

^aCoefficient should be read as the increase in delay days associated with each increase of 0.1 in the proportion of contacts that belong in the non-TB provider category
^bUGX, Ugandan Shillings. In the study year, 2017, the conversion rate for 1 US dollar was 3616.24 UGX

ISSN: 1471-2334