Healthcare-seeking behaviours of patients with acute respiratory infection: a cross-sectional survey in a rural area of southwest China

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the healthcare-seeking behaviour and related factors of people with acute respiratory symptoms in the rural areas of central and western China to estimate the disease burden of influenza more accurately.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Settings: Fifty-two communities/villages in the Wanzhou District, Chongqing, China, a rural area in southwest China, from May 2022 to July 2022.

Participants: The participants were those who had been living in Wanzhou District continuously for more than 6 months and consented to participate.

Outcome measures: A semistructured questionnaire was used to determine the healthcare-seeking behaviour of participants, and the dichotomous response of 'yes' or 'no' was used to assess whether participants had acute respiratory symptoms and their healthcare-seeking behaviour.

Results: Only 50.92% (360 of 707) of the patients with acute respiratory infection visited medical and health institutions for treatment, whereas 49.08% (347 of 707) avoided treatment or opted for self-medication. The primary reason for not seeing a doctor was that patients felt their condition was not serious and visiting a medical facility for treatment was unnecessary. Short distance (87.54%) and reasonable charges (49.48%) were ranked as the most important reasons for choosing treatment at primary medical and health facilities (80.27%). The primary reasons for which patients visited secondary and tertiary hospitals (7.78% and 8.61%, respectively) were that doctors in such facilities were better at diagnosis (57.14%) and at treatment (87.10%).

Conclusion: The findings provided in this study indicated that regular healthcare-seeking behaviour investigations should be conducted. The disease burden of influenza can be calculated more accurately when healthcare-seeking behaviour investigations are combined with surveillance in the hospitals.