Socioeconomic Impact of Tuberculosis in District Swabi, Pakistan: A Quantitative Study

Abstract

This article examined patients’ perceptions of the impact of Tuberculosis (TB) on their socioeconomic lives and analyzed whether effects differ by gender. The data were collected from 100 TB patients through simple random sampling. Chi-square and Kendall’s Tau-b tests were used to examine the association among variables. The association of patients’ perceptions was found to be significant and positive, with TB patients being stigmatized (P < 0.05, Tb = 0.414), socially isolated (P < 0.05, Tb = 0.139), and family members avoiding meals with the TB patients (P < 0.05, Tb = 0.363). Furthermore, the association of patients’ perception was found significant and positive with TB, adding financial burden on the family (P < 0.05, T^b=0.223), patients borrow money for treatment (P < 0.05, T^b =0.360), and sell the productive assets (P < 0.05, T^b =0.132). The results also showed that, after controlling for patients' gender, the association between patients’ perceptions and the social impacts of TB is significant (P < 0.05) and more negative for females than for males (for male TB = -0.272, for female TB = -0.324).  Similarly, after controlling for patients' gender, the association between patients’ perceptions and the economic impacts of TB was significant (P < 0.05) and more negative for females than for males (for male TB = -0.242, for female TB = -0.332). The results concluded that the adverse impacts of TB were higher on females than on males.