Diagnostic Errors in Tuberculous Patients: A Multicenter Study from a Developing Country

Table 3

The relationship between the occurrence of different types of diagnostic errors and patient- or disease-related characteristics.

Variables		History		Physical exam		Tests				Assessment				Referral/consultation		Follow-up
						Ordering		Performance		Hypothesis generation		Recognizing urgency/complications
		n (%)		n (%)		n (%)		n (%)		n (%)		n (%)		n (%)		n (%)
Gender	Female	48 (44)	0.36	46 (45.5)	0.21	42 (44.7)	0.38	5 (23.8)	0.04	52 (46)	0.11	4 (36.4)	0.66	9 (34.6)	0.36	14 (51.9)	0.28
	Male	61 (56)		55 (54.5)		52 (55.3)		16 (76.2)		61 (54)		7 (63.6)		17 (65.4)		13 (48.1)
Age, years	15–39	39 (35.8)	0.59	34 (34)	0.96	32 (34.4)	0.20	5 (23.8)	0.71	38 (33.9)	0.91	4 (40)	0.64	7 (28)	0.30	8 (30.8)	0.90
	40–64	37 (33.9)		34 (34)		32 (34.4)		10 (47.6)		38 (33.9)		1 (10)		12 (48)		10 (38.5)
	≥65	33 (30.3)		32 (32)		29 (31.2)		6 (28.6)		36 (32.1)		5 (50)		6 (24)		8 (30.8)
Educational level	Illiterate	48 (44.9)	0.18	44 (44.4)	0.05	37 (39.8)	0.47	11 (52.4)	0.08	46 (41.4)	0.14	4 (36.4)	0.85	11 (44)	0.08	13 (48.1)	0.94
	Secondary school or lower	35 (32.7)		37 (37.4)		38 (40.9)		8 (38.1)		43 (38.7)		5 (45.5)		13 (52)		7 (25.9)
	High school diploma or associate degree	21 (19.6)		15 (15.2)		16 (17.2)		2 (9.5)		20 (18)		2 (18.2)		1 (4)		5 (18.5)
	Academic	3 (2.8)		3 (3)		2 (2.2)		0 (0)		2 (1.8)		0 (0)		0 (0)		2 (7.4)
Geographic strata, rural	Urban	91 (85)	0.51	82 (82.8)	0.67	77 (82.8)	0.85	14 (66.7)	0.02	94 (84.7)	0.61	6 (54.5)	0.006	17 (68)	0.02	19 (70.4)	0.03
	Rural	16 (15)		17 (17.2)		16 (17.2)		7 (33.3)		17 (15.3)		5 (45.5)		8 (32)		8 (29.6)
Close contact with TB patients		28 (25.7)	0.35	26 (26)	0.52	23 (24.7)	0.84	5 (23.8)	0.59	26 (23.2)	0.59	0	0.64	7 (28)	0.64	6 (23.1)	0.86
Chronic medical illness		50 (45.9)	0.99	48 (47.5)	0.57	43 (45.7)	0.39	10 (47.6)	0.86	57 (50.4)	0.04	2 (18.2)	0.05	13 (50)	0.64	11 (40.7)	0.55
Site of involvement, pulmonary %	Pulmonary	68 (62.3)	0.98	65 (64.3)	0.31	58 (61.7)	0.43	10 (47.6)	0.13	71 (62.8)	0.87	1 (9)	<0.001	11 (42.3)	0.01	13 (48.1)	0.07
	Extrapulmonary	41 (37.6)		36 (35.6)		36 (38.2)		11 (52.3)		42 (37.1)		10 (90.9)		15 (57.6)		14 (51.8)
History of recent imprisonment		10 (9.2)	0.09	10 (9.9)	0.04	10 (10.6)	0.38	1 (4.8)	0.55	9 (8)	0.35	0 (0)	0.43	2 (7.7)	0.57	1 (3.7)	0.40
History of previous TB		6 (5.5)	0.003	6 (5.9)	0.01	5 (5.3)	0.69	2 (9.5)	0.63	7 (6.2)	0.01	0 (0)	0.60	1 (3.8)	0.47	2 (7.4)	0.50
Typical chest radiography		46 (42.2)	0.75	44 (43.6)	0.46	43 (45.7)	0.47	10 (47.6)	0.53	47 (41.6)	0.93	4 (36.4)	0.72	11 (42.3)	0.91	9 (33.3)	0.35

The comparisons were performed within variables. Chi-squared and Fisher’s exact tests were used to compare groups; TB: tuberculosis.