Long diagnosis delay contributes significantly to the failure to eradicate tuberculosis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the total, patient and system delays in diagnosis of pulmonary bacilliferous in the six tuberculosis Diagnostic and Treatment Centers in the five health districts of the central region in Burkina Faso.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 384 microscopy-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients in 2018 to address this objective. It concerned the socio-demographic, clinical, microbiological characteristics, and referral location/pathway characteristics of the patients. We then calculated the different delays. The “patient” (time from first symptoms to first consultation), “system” (time from first consultation to first diagnosis) and total (time from first symptoms to diagnosis) median diagnostic delay were estimated.

The median “total”, “patient” and “system” diagnostic times were 37, 21 and 7 days, respectively. Of the 384 patients surveyed, 158 patients or 41.25% of patients had a long total diagnostic delay (> 45 days). The number of patients with a long system diagnostic delay was 125 patients (32.55%; p < 0.001) and those with a long patient diagnostic delay were 105 patients (27.34%; p < 0.001).

The total diagnosis delay of pulmonary tuberculosis was long for almost half of the patients. Awareness of the signs of tuberculosis among patients and caregivers, and consultation in a health center must be intensified to help considerably reduce these delays.

Pulmonary tuberculosis ; Diagnostic delays ; Ouagadougou

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