Medial Factors
Caregiver Characteristics
Overall, 233 (23%) caregivers reported smoking while 166 (22%) consumed alcohol; 308 (45%) of caregivers were classified as experiencing high stress [Table II]. Of all caregivers, 61% perceived that they had high social support, 32% moderate social support and 8% low social support [Table II]. Active smoking (p=0.019) was a caregiver characteristic associated with treated childhood TB in univariate analyses. Previous TB treatment of the caregiver was protective (p = 0.050) [Table III]. A similar association was found when analyzed by microbiologically-confirmed PTB [Table V].
Psychological Distress
Of all caregivers, 863 (72%) completed all questions on the K-10 questionnaire. The median score (IQR) was 23 (15 – 30); 40% were classified as being well, 15% as having mild distress, 14% as having moderate distress and 31% as having severe distress (K-10 score ≥30). There was no difference in the proportion of caregivers with severe psychological distress across the three categories of children with PTB (p = 0.249) [Table II]. For the outcome of malnutrition, severe psychological distress was associated with malnutrition among children in both the univariate and multivariate analyses (p=0.028) and (p=0.015), respectively [Table IV].