Factors Influencing Patient Delay in Pulmonary Tuberculosis in a Community Setting: A Cross-Sectional Study

Delays in the treatment of Tuberculosis (TB) result in the failure to achieve the TB program’s goals. The delay in TB treatment can be measured by patient delay and healthcare service delay.This study aims to analyze the factors influencing the occurrence of patient delay in pulmonary tuberculosis. The type of this research is quantitative with a cross-sectional approach. The research population consists of all suspected Pulmonary TB patients, totaling 182 patients, with a sample of 158 respondents using the proportional random sampling technique. This research was conducted in the Working Area of Maja Public Health Center, Marga Punduh District, Pesawaran Regency, Lampung, Indonesia, in September-October 2024. Data collection was conducted using a questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted univariately (frequency distribution), bivariately (chi-square), and multivariately (logistic regression). The research results indicate that there are factors associated with the occurrence of patient delay in this study, namely age factor (p-value <0.001), gender (p-value = 0.017), employment status (p-value <0.001), economic status (p-value <0.001), education level (p-value = 0.003), knowledge level (p-value = 0.023), smoking history (p-value = 0.022), distance from residence (p-value = 0.040), and cadre support (p-value <0.001). The dominant factor influencing the occurrence of patient delay in tuberculosis treatment is the employment factor (p-value = 0.019; OR (95% CI) = 21.5 (1.67-279.24). Advice for healthcare workers includes providing education about TB, particularly the cough symptoms suspected to be TB, especially in the smoking community, and efforts to change patients’ perceptions about TB are essential to reduce the level of delay in seeking early healthcare.