Influencing Factors of Delayed Diagnosis of COVID-19 in Gangwon, South Korea

Minhye Park, Seungmin Jeong (), Yangjun Park, Saerom Kim, Yeojin Kim, Eunmi Kim and So Yeon Kong
Additional contact information
Minhye Park: Infectious Disease Control Division, Gangwon State Government, Chuncheon 25425, Gangwon, Republic of Korea
Seungmin Jeong: Gangwon State Center for Infectious Diseases (Affiliated to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and, Gangwon State Government), Chuncheon 24280, Gangwon, Republic of Korea
Yangjun Park: Gangwon State Center for Infectious Diseases (Affiliated to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and, Gangwon State Government), Chuncheon 24280, Gangwon, Republic of Korea
Saerom Kim: Gangwon State Center for Infectious Diseases (Affiliated to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and, Gangwon State Government), Chuncheon 24280, Gangwon, Republic of Korea
Yeojin Kim: Gangwon State Center for Infectious Diseases (Affiliated to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and, Gangwon State Government), Chuncheon 24280, Gangwon, Republic of Korea
Eunmi Kim: Gangwon State Center for Infectious Diseases (Affiliated to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and, Gangwon State Government), Chuncheon 24280, Gangwon, Republic of Korea
So Yeon Kong: Strategic Research, Laerdal Medical, 4002 Stavanger, Norway

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: This study aimed to identify the time to diagnosis among COVID-19 patients and factors associated with delayed diagnosis (DD). Data from COVID-19 patients in Gangwon, South Korea, diagnosed between 22 February 2020 and 29 January 2022, were analyzed, excluding asymptomatic cases and those who underwent mandatory testing. DD was defined as a period exceeding 2 or more days from symptom recognition to COVID-19 diagnosis. Univariate analysis was performed to investigate the demographic characteristics, COVID-19 symptoms, and underlying medical conditions associated with DD, followed by multivariate logistic regression analysis for significant variables. Among 2683 patients, 584 (21.8%) were diagnosed within a day of symptom onset. DD rates were lower in patients with febrile symptoms but higher among those with cough, myalgia, or anosmia/ageusia. High-risk underlying medical conditions were not significantly associated with DD. Older age groups, the Wonju medical service area, time of diagnosis between November 2020 and July 2021, symptom onset on nonworkdays, and individuals in nonwhite collar sectors were significantly associated with increased DD risks. These findings were consistent in the sensitivity analysis. This study underscores the need for enhanced promotion and system adjustments to ensure prompt testing upon symptom recognition.

Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 test; delayed diagnosis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/5/641/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/5/641/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:5:p:641-:d:1396828

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().