A Long Delay in Definite Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis and the Role of Physician Delay

The incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis in our region is high. Despite the recent advances in medicine, still many patients suffer from longstanding tuberculosis. Delay in diagnosis may result in further morbidity and mortality. So, the goal of this study to evaluate the patient delay and physician delay.Matherials and A descriptive study was done from 2004 to 2007 at Imam Reza Hospital on 86 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Those patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria undervent a face to face interview and then the questioner's checklist was filled out. The interval between the first appearance of the clinical manifestation and first visit to the physician was considered the patient delay and the period between the patient's first visits to the final diagnosis was the physician's delay. Gathered data was analyzed with analyctic methods and T test. The mean patient delay time was 14/69 +10/91 with a median of 12/5 days. The mean physician delay time was 84/30 +42/75 with a median of 80 days. The mean total delay time was 99 +44/70 days with a median of 92/50 days.According to this studythe patient delay in our region is acceptable in comparison with other studies, but our physician delay was long. Thus improving and upgrading the mycobacteriological courses for general physicians and specialists is recommended.