Patient and Doctor Delays in Smear-Negative and Smear-Positive Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients Attending a Referral Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey

Table 1

Demographic characteristics of the study population.

	Group 1		Group 2
		%		%
Sex^~
Male	38	58.5	42	59.2
Female	27	41.5	29	40.8
Mean age (range)	36.9 (16–68) years		35.8 (16–67) years
Education level^†
Primary school	29	44.6	42	59.2
High school	26	40.0	23	32.4
University	10	15.4	6	8.4
Smoking habit*
Nonsmoker	27	41.5	23	32.4
Ex-smoker	13	20.0	15	21.1
Smoker	25	38.5	33	46.5
History of index case for tuberculosis**
Yes	30	46.2	31	43.7
No	35	53.8	40	56.3
Comorbidity°
Yes	15	23.1	22	31.0
No	50	76.9	49	69.0
Presenting symptom^‡
Cough	38	58.5	59	83.1
Sputum production	26	40.0	41	57.7
Fever	17	26.2	22	31.0
Hemoptysis	7	10.8	22	31.0
Chest pain	17	26.2	15	21.1
Dyspnea	8	12.3	4	5.6
Weight loss	14	21.5	29	40.8
Sweating	16	24.2	21	29.6
Other	29	44.6	32	45.1

; ^†; *; **; °; and ^‡.