Health care seeking pattern of tuberculosis patients attending an urban TB clinic in Delhi.

The study of pattern of health care seeking of tuberculosis patients is important for identification of factors which might influence delayed reporting of tuberculosis cases, especially the open pulmonary cases. Consecutive 301 pulmonary TB patients, belonging to any of the categories under RNTCP, diagnosed at New Delhi Tuberculosis Centre or its sub-centres over a six-month period were assessed for health care seeking pattern. "Delay" was defined as the time over 3 weeks that a case took to report to the area TB facility. 43.2% patients reported to the TB health facility on their own and others were referred by government hospitals (34.9%) and general practitioners (21.9%). Median delay over 3 weeks was 2.69 weeks for all three categories combined, with a significantly higher delay (3.41 weeks) for retreatment cases as compared to new cases (2.13 weeks). No significant differences were observed in health seeking delay in relation to sex, income, literacy status and source of referral and sputum status. Extensive health education activities can reduce this period of delay in health seeking and result in reduction of transmission of tuberculosis to healthy members of the family and community.