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Table 1 Variables, their measurements, and hypotheses

From: Determinants of health seeking behavior for chronic non-communicable diseases and related out-of-pocket expenditure: results from a cross-sectional survey in northern Bangladesh

Variables and their measurement

Hypothesized direction of explanatory variables’ influence on primary outcome1

No/self-care vs. qualified care

Semi-qualified care vs. qualified care

Primary outcome variable: type of health seeking

1 = No care/self-care

NA

NA

2 = Semi-qualified professional care

3 = Qualified professional care

Secondary outcome variable: total out-of-pocket expenditure incurred to seek CNCD care in prior 30 days (Continuous variable)

Explanatory variables

Individual characteristics

  

 Age: Continuous variable

+/-

+/-

 Duration of illness (months): Continuous variable

-

-

 Sex:

  0 = Male

  1 = Female

+/-

+/-

 Education:

  0 = No schooling

  1 = Primary level and above

-

-

 Marital status:

  0 = Currently not married

  1 = Currently married

+/-

+/-

 Occupational status:

  0 = Non-income generating

  1 = Income generating

-

-

 Being household head:

  0 = No

  1 = Yes

-

-

 Comorbidity:

  0 = No comorbidity

  1 = Comorbidity

-

-

 Category of CNCDs:

  0 = Minor CNCDs, 1 = Major CNCDs

-

-

 Household characteristics

  

  Household size (no. of members): continuous variable

+

+

Socio-economic status/ asset quintiles

 1 = 1st quintile (poorest)

 2 = 2nd quintile

 3 = 3rd quintile

 4 = 4th quintile

 5 = 5th quintile (least poor)

-

-

Proportion of household members with CNCD: continuous variable

+

+

MFI involvement of household head and/or spouse:

 0 = Not involved with MFI

 1 = Involved with MFI

-

-

Presence of acute illness in the household:

0 = No, 1 = Yes

+

+

Contextual characteristics

  

 Distance between household and sub-district’s public health care facility (Upazilla Health Complex/Medical college hospital): continuous variable

+

+

 Rural or urban residence:

0 = Rural, 1 = Urban

-

-

 Sub-district of residence :

  1 = Rangpur Sadar

  2 = Mithapukur

  3 = Badarganj

  4 = Pirganj

  5 = Pirgacha

+/-

+/-

  1. CNCD, chronic non-communicable diseases; MFI, Micro-Finance Institute
  2. 1Direction of influence: positive association (+), negative association (-), not sure of direction of association (+/-)