BMC Public Health 2009, 9:53 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/53 Table 3: Demographic, economic, health status of pulmonary tuberculosis patients (n = 924) and patient delayed first consultation at public health facilities in Ethiopia during 2005–2006. Patient delay ≥ 30 days n (%) < 30 days n (%) COR (95% CI)1 P-value Variables Sex: Male Female Age: 15–29 > = 30 Education Illiterate Elementary Secondary Residence Urban Rural Occupation Farming Employed Daily labourer Dependents Marital status: Married Single Divorced/widowed HIV status Positive Negative Nutritional status 2 Normal Moderate Severe malnutrition Type of pulmonary disease Sputum smear negative Sputum smear positive Monthly income 3 <100 Birr 101–200 Birr ≥ 201 Birr Receive food aid from the government: No Yes 260 (51) 233(56) 219(53) 274(54) 267(62) 111(55) 115(39) 216(46) 277(61) 220(61) 81(45) 72(49) 120(51) 265(56) 162(52) 66(49) 215 (52) 278(54) 97 (49) 56 (44) 340 (57) 185 (48) 308 (57) 329 (54) 102 (58) 62 (44) 353(51) 140(61) 251(49) 180 (44) 196(47) 235(46) 163(38) 89(45) 179(61) 257(54) 174(39) 139(39) 101(55) 76(51) 115(49) 211(44) 152(48) 68(51) 197 (48) 234(46) 101(51) 70 (56) 260 (43) 202 (52) 229 (43) 276 (46) 75 (42) 80 (56) 340 (49) 91(39) 1 1.25 (0.9, 1.6) 1 1.04 (0.8,1.3) 2.5 (1.9, 3.5) 1.9 (1.3, 2.8) 1 1 1.9 (1.45, 2.5) 1 0.51 (0.35, 0.7) 0.6 (0.4, 0.8) 0.66 (0.5, 0.9) 1 0.85 (0.6, 1.1) 0.77 (0.52, 1.13) 1 1.1 (0.8, 1.4) 1 0.83 (0.53, 1.3) 1.4 (0.98, 1.8) 1 1.5 (1.2, 1.9) 1 1.1 (0.8, 1.6) 0.65 (0.5, 0.9) 1 1.5 (1.2, 2) 0.09 0.7 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.009 0.01 0.2 0.1 0.5 0.06 0.43 0.004 0.4 0.02 0.01 1 Crude Odds Ratio (95% Confidence Interval. 2 Measured using body mass index. 3 Nine Birr = 1$. than those who did not (15 days). Patients who have been treated with holy water and by private practitioners con- tributed 52% and 27% of the total delayed consultations respectively. The overall median patient delay of 30 days was consistent with previous studies from Ethiopia [4-6,8] and other African countries [14,15]. Several factors were found to be associated with pro- longed patient delay in the study districts. Prolonged patient delay has been shown to be more common among women than men by African studies [16,17]. Our study however did not show a significant association between sex and prolonged patient delay, a finding consistent with previous Ethiopian studies [5,6,8]. More male than female (55% versus 45%) cases were detected over the study period, but no clear explanation for this arose. Else- where [18], similar differences in case detection have been attributed to women's limited decision-making power Page 5 of 10 (page number not for citation purposes)