Open AccessHealth‐seeking behaviors of patients with acute respiratory infections during the outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 in Wuhan, China
Author(s) -
Yang Juan,
Gong Hui,
Chen Xinhua,
Chen Zhiyuan,
Deng Xiaowei,
Qian Mengcen,
Hou Zhiyuan,
Ajelli Marco,
Viboud Cecile,
Yu Hongjie
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
influenza and other respiratory viruses
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.743
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1750-2659
pISSN - 1750-2640
DOI - 10.1111/irv.12804
Subject(s) - outbreak , medicine , china , covid-19 , disease , environmental health , population , emergency medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , virology , geography , archaeology
We conducted two surveys to evaluate the health‐seeking behaviors of individuals with acute respiratory infections (ARI) during the COVID‐19 outbreak in Wuhan, China. Among 351 participants reporting ARI (10.3%, 351/3,411), 36.5% sought medical assistance. Children were more likely to seek medical assistance than other age‐groups (66.1% vs. 28.0%‐35.1%). This population‐based study demonstrates that the majority of patients with ARI symptoms did not seek medical assistance during the COVID‐19 outbreak in Wuhan. These findings may be used to refine the estimates of disease burden and clinical severity of COVID‐19 and to plan for health resources allocation.