Original scientific paper

Factors Associated with Early Referral for Pediatric Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Bilge Fettahlioglu Karaman ; Çukurova University Medical School, Department of Dermatology, Adana, Turkey
Varol Aksungur ; Çukurova University Medical School, Department of Dermatology, Adana, Turkey
Ilker Unal ; Çukurova University Medical School, Department of Biostatistics, Adana, Turkey
Soner Uzun ; Akdeniz University Medical School, Department of Dermatology, Antalya, Turkey

Abstract

ABSTRACT Determinants of early referral to healthcare providers, which may be useful for health policy, have not been investigated in pediatric cutaneous leish-maniasis with multivariate analyses. We aimed to explore determinants of early healthcare seeking in children with cutaneous leishmaniasis. Records of 1115 children with cutaneous leishmaniasis admitted to our hospital in Adana, Turkey were reviewed. Effects of age, sex, residential distance, lesion number, and facio-cervical onset on early referral were evaluated with multivariate logistic regression analyses. The mean duration of the disease was 12.7 months. Early referral was significantly more likely in patients aged 1-5 and 6-10 years (odds ratio 2.32 and 1.32, respectively) than patients aged 11-18 years. A borderline-significant association was present for faciocervical onset. Early referral in younger children might be due to the fact that the younger the child, the greater the parental concerns about their child’s health problems. The rate of late referral in older children may be decreased by some school-based health interventions.

Keywords

leishmaniasis; epidemiology; prevention; healthcare utilization; public health

Hrčak ID:

293996

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/293996

Publication date:

2.5.2022.

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