Healthcare Seeking Behaviour of Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients During Second Wave in Tertiary Care Hospital of Northern India

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47203/IJCH.2023.v35i01.019

Keywords:

Humans, Male, Female, Aged, Adolescent, Young Adult, Adult, Middle Aged, 80 and over, Pandemics, COVID-19, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Physicians, Informed Consent

Abstract

Background: The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic continues its deadly reign all over the world. Devising effective strategies for detecting and controlling the infection has become ever more critical. Effective prevention and control of the pandemic is entirely dependent on human behavior in terms of practicing preventive and curative measures. During the second wave of COVID-19, people’s perceptions of preventive and curative measures changed.

Objective: To study healthcare-seeking behavior of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Methods: Hospitalized patients due to COVID-19 in the month of March, April and May of 2021 were included in the study. Their attendants/close relatives were contacted telephonically to know about the admitted patients’ healthcare-seeking behavior. Verbal consent was taken from attendants before the commencement of the interview, followed by informing them about the purpose of the interview.

Results: Amongst the subjects, there were more males than females (67.5 vs 32.4%), age ranged between 18 to 88 with a mean value of 56.61 ± 14.7 years. Self-medication was significantly associated with study subjects’ mortality (p=0.03). Conclusion: Elderly people were having higher mortality rate than their younger counterparts. People were hesitant to visit primary care physicians after having symptoms of COVID-19.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

WHO. WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11th March 2020. World Health Organization. Published 11th March, 2020. https://www.who. int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020

Andrews M, Areekal B, Rajesh K, et al. First confirmed case of COVID-19 infection in India: A case report. Indian Journal of Medical Research. 2020;0(0):0. doi:10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_2131_20

Staff TW. Coronavirus Updates, 12th March: India’s First Death Confirmed in Karnataka – The Wire Science. Accessed 30th March, 2022. https://science.thewire.in/health/coronavirus-global-pandemic-who-india-covid-19-cases-quarantine-visa-cancelled/

WHO Health Emergency Dashboard, Accessed 29th July 2022. https://covid19.who.int/region/searo/country/in

Lopez Bernal J, Andrews N, Gower C, et al. Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccines against the B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant. New England Journal of Medicine. 2021;385(7). doi:10.1056/ nejmoa2108891

Latunji OO, Akinyemi OO. Factors influencing health-seeking behaviour among civil servants in Ibadan, Nigeria. Annals of Ibadan Postgraduate Medicine. 2018 Jul 17; 16(1):52–60. PMID: 30254559

Olenja J. Editorial Health seeking behaviour in context. East African medical journal. 2003; 80(2):61–2. https://doi. org/10.4314/eamj.v80i2.8689 PMID: 16167716

Guidelines for the regulatory assessment of medicinal products for use in self-medication. Geneva, World Health Organization, 2000 [cited 2023 23rd February] Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/66154

Mudenda, S., Witika, B. A., Sadiq, M. J., et al. (2020). Self-medication and its Consequences during & afterthe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic:A Global Health Problem. European Journal of Environment and Public Health, 5(1), em0066.

The COVID-19 Catastrophe, What’s Gone Wrong and How To Stop It Happening Again, By Richard Horton · 2021 [cited 2023 23rd February] Available from: https://www. google.co.in/books/edition/The_COVID_19_Catastrophe/ ZIIUEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

CDC. COVID-19 and Your Health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published 11th February, 2020. https://www. cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/effectiveness/work. html

Shoukat A, Vilches TN, Moghadas SM, Sah P, Schneider EC, Shaff J, et al. Lives saved and hospitalizations averted by covid-19 vaccination in New York City: A modeling study. The Lancet Regional Health - Americas. 2021Oct30;5:100085.

MOHFW. www.mohfw.gov.in. Published 21st April, 2021. Accessed 30th March, 2022. nd Accelerated National Covid19 Vaccination Strategy 2042021.pdf

CLINICAL MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL FOR COVID-19 (In Adults) Government of India Ministry of Health and Family

Welfare Version 6 24.05.21. [cited – 2023 23rd February]

Kwok KO, Wong VWY, Wei WI, Wong SYS, Tang JW-T. Epidemiological characteristics of the first 53 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 epidemic in Hong Kong, 13th February 2020. Eurosurveillance. 2020;25(16). doi:10.2807/1560-7917.es.2020.25.16.2000155

Knights H, Mayor N, Millar K, et al. Characteristics and outcomes of patients with COVID-19 at a district general hospital in Surrey, UK. Clinical Medicine. 2020;20(5):e148-e153. doi:10.7861/clinmed.2020-0303

Pellis L, Scarabel F, Stage HB, et al. Challenges in control of COVID-19: short doubling time and long delay to effect of interventions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2021;376(1829). doi:10.1098/ rstb.2020.0264

Bansal S, Roy M, Chatterjee T, Roy AK. Deaths due to delayed presentation to the hospital from fear of contracting COVID-19 during lockdown period: a tertiary care center experience. Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives. 2021;11(3):299-301. doi:10.1080/20009666.20 21.1918440

Isik AT. Covid-19 Infection in Older Adults: A Geriatrician’s Perspective. Clinical Interventions in Aging. 2020;15:1067-1069. doi:10.2147/CIA.S260972

Kassie AD, Bifftu BB, Mekonnen HS. Self-medication practice and associated factors among adult household members in Meket district, Northeast Ethiopia, 2017. BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology. 2018;19(1). doi:10.1186/s40360-018-0205-6

Afridi MI, Rasool G. PREVALENCE AND PATTERN OF SELF-MEDICATION IN KARACHI- A COMMUNITY SURVEY. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences. 2015;31(5). doi:10.12669/pjms.315.8216

Noone J, Blanchette CM. The value of self-medication: summary of existing evidence. Journal of Medical Economics. 2017;21(2):201-211. doi:10.1080/13696998.2017.1390473

World Health Organization. Guidelines for the regulatory assessment of medicinal products for use in self-medication. Published online 2000. https://apps.who.int/iris/ handle/10665/66154

Mallhi TH, Khan YH, Alotaibi NH, et al. Drug repurposing for COVID-19: a potential threat of self-medication and controlling measures. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2021;97(1153):742-743. doi:10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-138447

Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, et al. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. The Lancet. 2020;395(10223):497-506. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30183-5

Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X, et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. The Lancet. 2020;395(10223). doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30211-7

Liu K, Fang YY, Deng Y, et al. Clinical characteristics of novel coronavirus cases in tertiary hospitals in Hubei

Province. Chinese Medical Journal. 2020;133(9):1025-1031. doi:10.1097/cm9.0000000000000744

UN Digital Library Nepal: Document History. un.info.np. Accessed 30th March, 2022. https://un.info.np/Net/NeoDocs/ View/History/Default.aspx?RefId=5110

Downloads

Published

2023-03-31

How to Cite

1.
Sharma P, Singh SP, Chaudhary A, Kaur A, Sharma S, Girdhar S, et al. Healthcare Seeking Behaviour of Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients During Second Wave in Tertiary Care Hospital of Northern India. Indian J Community Health [Internet]. 2023 Mar. 31 [cited 2024 Mar. 29];35(1):103-8. Available from: https://iapsmupuk.org/journal/index.php/IJCH/article/view/2496

Issue

Section

Original Article

Most read articles by the same author(s)