Influencing factors for decision-making delay in seeking medical care among acute ischemic stroke patients in rural areas

Abstract

Objective: To explore the factors influencing decision-making delay in seeking medical care for patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in rural areas.

Methods: From September to December 2021, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 260 patients with AIS who were hospitalized in the neurology departments of four county-level hospitals in Daqing. A decision-tree and logistic regression model was used to investigate the elements contributing to decision-making delays.

Results: This study found that the decision-making delay rate for rural patients with AIS was 71.5%. The results of the univariate analysis showed that factors associated with decision-making delay included educational level, National Institute of Health stroke scale (NIHSS) score, self-assessed health, monthly income, social support, attitude toward medical help-seeking, health belief, and family dynamics (P < 0.05). Further, we combined logistic regression (LR) and decision-tree (DT) models for multivariate analysis, and finally obtained five factors affecting decision-making delay in AIS patients in rural areas: disease severity, health belief, monthly income (common factors), educational level (only DT model), and social support (only LR model).

Conclusions: This study found that a few variables, including disease severity, educational level, monthly income, health belief, and social support, affected rural AIS patients' decision-making delay in seeking medical care.

Practice implications: To achieve the goal of reducing decision-delay and increasing thrombolysis rate, this study thoroughly examined the influencing factors of decision-making delay in seeking medical care of rural AIS patients from various angles. This analysis provides guidance for medical and healthcare professionals on how to best provide future health education for the high-risk population for stroke in rural areas.

Keywords: Decision-making delay; Influencing factors; Rural areas; Seeking medical care.