Causes of Delay in Diagnosis of Smear-Positive Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients Referred to the Tuberculosis Center of Zahedan

Conclusion: A total 98 patients were studied including 42 males and 56 females. Average age of patients was 51.6±19.57. Average delay in diagnosis was 2.8±1.78 months. The average delay of patients and health system was respectively 2.6±1.76 months and 6±4.27days. Data analysis showed that there is no relationship between the delay in diagnosis and individual variables such as age, gender, occupation, etc., and examination of sputum smears at the first visit. However, there is a significant relationship between patient delay with different factors such as education (p=0.03), marital status (p=0.03), existence of hospital or medical centers in the residence (p=0.02), distance to the medical center (p=0.02) and between health system delay and residence in the city (p=0.01), distance to this medical center (p=0.03) and obtaining chest X-ray (CXR) in the first visit (p=0.003).