. Mukesh Bairwa; . Rajesh Kumar; . Poonam Yadav; . Yogesh Bahurupi; . Ravi Kant
Volume 11, Issue 6 , July 2021, , Pages 1-10
Abstract
BACKGROUND: COVID‑19 was declared an emergency of international concern by the World HealthOrganization in 2020. This study assesses patients’ awareness, perception, and mitigating ...
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BACKGROUND: COVID‑19 was declared an emergency of international concern by the World HealthOrganization in 2020. This study assesses patients’ awareness, perception, and mitigating measurestaken during the COVID‑19 outbreak visiting an apex tertiary health‑care center in North India.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional study was conducted between September 15,2020, and November 15, 2020, in a tertiary care public hospital, North India, using a structuredself‑administered questionnaire. The survey included 809 patients using a consecutive samplingstrategy. The self‑structured and prevalidated questionnaire was used to collect information onstudy variables. Chi‑square test and independent samples t‑test, followed by binary and multivariatelogistic regression, was used to determine the factors associated with awareness toward COVID‑19.RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 32.41 (±11.24) years. Multivariate logistic regressionshows that married participants (OR: 0.660, 95 % CI: 0.440-0.989, P= 0.044), reading books/magazine or attended institutional lectures (OR: 2.241, 95% CI: 1.545–3.249, P = 0.001), and watchingtelevision and radio (OR: 1.824, 95% CI: 1.283–2.592, P = 0.001) are significantly more aware thantheir counterparts. Participants with higher income group (>20,000 Indian rupee) significantly hadhigher awareness than participants having salary <10,000 rupees (OR: 0.280, 95% CI: 0.178–0.440,P = 0.001) or 10,001–20,000 rupees (OR: 0.481, 95% CI: 0.297–0.777, P = 0.003). Patientsavoiding traveling across or abroad had significantly much reasonably good awareness than theircounterparts (OR: 0.357, 95% CI: 0.139–0.918, P = 0.033).CONCLUSIONS: Participants demonstrated good awareness, encouraging perception, and compliedwith appropriate mitigating measures during the outbreak. Considering frequent waves and thepandemic’s long duration, consistent reinforcement of government measures, including masks,maintaining social distance, and frequent handwashing, is much needed.
