Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding Tuberculosis among adult Residents of Urban Field Practice Area of Shri B M Patil Medical College, Vijayapura

Abstract

Background : Tuberculosis (TB) remains a severe public health burden across the globe, including India. India alone accounts for approximately 24% of all incidents TB cases globally. According to a recent WHO report, approximately one million deaths occur due to TB every year globally, of which 0.24 million were Indians. A high awareness of Tuberculosis (TB) is very important for its prevention and control in the community. Aims and Objective : To study the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices regarding TB among adults of urban field practice area. Materials and Methods : A cross-sectional study was conducted among adult residents of urban field practice area of Vijayapura. The information was collected about Knowledge, Attitude and Practices regarding TB (its signs and symptoms, mode of spread, cause, investigations, treatment and prevention) among adults. Chi-square test was applied to study the effect of socio-demographic characteristics on KAP regarding TB. Results : A total of 390 subjects were interviewed for the survey. About 28.46% of the subjects were in the age group 19-28 years. The median age of the study subjects was 42 (SD±14) years. Of these, 170 (43%) were male subjects and 220 (56%) were female. Based on the knowledge variables, 31.28% felt that pollution is the cause followed by 22.56% as certained the cause to habits like Smoking and Tobacco use. About 16.67% said bacteria can cause TB and 11.54% did not have any knowledge about the cause of TB. About 60.52% of the patients said that TB is a very serious disease and 3.33% said that they did not know about the seriousness of the disease. Conclusion : The study participants had good knowledge of TB but there were several misconceptions regarding its cause. Community-based awareness programs on TB need to be increased among residence of urban field practice area