Seeking health services and diagnosis of 697 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 in Hunan province
LIU Zi-yan, GAO Li-dong, HU Shi-xiong, LUO Kai-wei, XIAO Jie-hua, ZHAO Shan-lu, ZENG Ge, DAI Zhi-hui, YANG Hao, SUN Qian-lai, ZHANG Heng-jiao, DENG Zhi-hong
Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changsha, Hunan 410005, China
Abstract：Objective To investigate the health services-seeking behavior and diagnosis of 697 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hunan province, to analyze the existing problems and to provide scientific evidence for its prevention and control. Methods Descriptive epidemiological methods were used to analyze the medical help-seeking behavior and diagnosis of 697 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported before February 13, 2020 in Hunan province, and the analysis indicators included the cases'intervals between onset-first diagnosis, first diagnosis-suspected diagnosis, suspected diagnosis-confirmed diagnosis and onset-hospitalization. Results The medians of intervals between onset-first diagnosis, first diagnosis-suspected diagnosis, suspected diagnosis-confirmed diagnosis and onset-hospitalization in 697 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Hunan province were 2 days, 1 day, 0 day and 3 days, respectively. As time went by, the intervals between onset-first diagnosis, first diagnosis-suspected diagnosis and suspected diagnosis-confirmed diagnosis in the cases were shortened(P<0.05). The intervals between first diagnosis-suspected diagnosis as well as onset-hospitalization in the severe cases were longer than those in the ordinary and mild cases (P<0.05). Conclusions Enhancing prevention and control can effectively improve the timeliness of medical help-seeking and diagnosis of the cases so as to further decline the incidence of severe cases.
2020, Vol. 27 
