Socioeconomic Factors and Healthcare Seeking for Respiratory Illness

For this analysis, only data from the last episode of disease syndrome was included if more than one episode had been reported. Using principal component analysis, specifically using the factor effects derived from the first component of household goods, house construction material, source of water supply, source of cooking fuel and sanitation facility [20 (link), 21 (link)], we generated the household wealth index as proxy for socioeconomic status (SES) stratified by county. The wealth index was categorized into quintiles; wealthy households in this study were defined as those whose wealth index was in the fourth or fifth quintile.
All analyses were conducted using Stata 15.1 software (StataCorp. 2017. Stata Statistical Software: Release 15. College Station, TX: StataCorp LLC). Multivariable survey logistic regression methods were used in the analyses to identify factors that were independently associated with healthcare seeking behaviors for respiratory illness while accounting for the survey design. Variables that were included in each of the multivariable models assessed were site (county where data were collected), sex, age, SES, and level of education of the head of the household. Other variables that were assessed included religion, household size, childbirth order, and family member status (i.e., part of the nuclear family or other relative).