[Investigation on "patient's delay" in TB detection].

Objective: The causes of delay in receiving medical examinations (for a period of more than 2 months between the appearance of tuberculosis symptoms and the first examination at a medical institution) were investigated.

Method: Interviews of 127 smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients (study period: June-December, 2008). Subjects were divided into 2 groups: those who showed delay in receiving medical examination (hereinafter referred to as "case") and those who did not show delay in receiving medical examination (hereinafter referred to as "control"), and the factors causing differences between the two groups were investigated.