Diagnostic delays in alcoholic cirrhosis: A cross-sectional study of contributing factors

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of the inpatients’ demographic characteristics, n (%)/median (interquartile range)

Characteristics	n = 401
First diagnosis
Yes	70 (17.46)
No	331 (82.54)
Sex
Male	388 (96.76)
Female	13 (3.24)
Age (years)	57 (50-65)
Race
Han	385 (96.01)
Miao	8 (1.99)
Zhuang	1 (0.25)
Tujia	5 (1.25)
Others	2 (0.5)
Marital status
Married	335 (83.54)
Unmarried	6 (1.50)
Widowed	34 (8.48)
Divorced	26 (6.48)
Family size (population)	2 (2-2)
Drinking ml-day	500 (250-800)
Drinking years	30 (20-40)
Residence
City	227 (56.61)
Rural area	174 (43.39)
Resident manner
Living alone	91 (22.69)
Not living alone	310 (77.31)
Years of education	9 (6-12)
Average annual family income (ten thousand RMB)	4 (2-6)
Medical insurance
Yes	364 (90.77)
No	37 (9.23)
Diagnostic delay (months)	5 (2-11)
Hospital classification for first visit
First-level hospital (I)	93 (23.19)
Secondary hospital (II)	152 (37.91)
Tertiary hospital (III)	156 (38.9)
Receiving liver color ultrasound in the first visit
Yes	301 (75.06)
No	100 (24.94)
Receiving liver-computed tomography test in the first visit
Yes	167 (41.65)
No	234 (58.35)
Types of wine
Baijiu (Chinese liquor)	227 (56.61)
Red wine	2 (0.50)
Beer	2 (0.50)
Rice wine	114 (28.43)
Baijiu and rice wine	29 (7.23)
Baijiu and beer	20 (5.00)
Baijiu and red wine	1 (0.25)
Baijiu, beer and rice wine	5 (1.25)
Baijiu, red wine and rice wine	1 (0.25)
Hepatic encephalopathy level
No	356 (88.78)
1-2 Level	41 (10.22)
3-4 Level	4 (1.00)
Ascites level
No	171 (42.64)
Mild	169 (42.14)
Moderate to severe	61 (15.21)
Albumin level
Normal	61 (15.21)
Moderate deficiency	171 (42.64)
Mild deficiency	169 (42.15)

Table 2 Distribution of medical institutions with the first diagnosis of alcoholic cirrhosis patients, n (%)

The first diagnosis of proportion	First-level hospital (I), n = 93	Secondary hospital (II), n = 152	Tertiary hospital (III), n = 156	P value
Yes	0 (0)	8 (11.43)	62 (88.57)	< 0.001
No	93 (28.10)	144 (43.50)	94 (28.40)

Table 3 Proportion of patients receiving liver color ultrasound test in the first visit, in different levels of hospitals, n (%)

Proportion	First-level hospital (I), n = 93	Secondary hospital (II), n = 152	Tertiary hospital (III), n = 156	P value
Yes	4 (4.3)	145 (95.39)	152 (97.44)	< 0.001
No	89 (95.7)	7 (4.61)	4 (2.56)

Table 4 Proportion of patients receiving liver computed tomography test in the first visit, in different levels of hospitals, n (%)

Proportion	First-level hospital (I), n = 93	Secondary hospital (II), n = 152	Tertiary hospital (III), n = 156	P value
Yes	1 (1.08)	21 (13.82)	145 (92.95)	< 0.001
No	92 (98.92)	131 (86.18)	11 (7.05)

Table 5 Wilcoxon test for demographic differences in diagnostic delay, median (interquartile range)

Characteristics	Diagnostic delay (months)	P value
Sex
Male	5 (2-11)	0.737
Female	5 (1-11)
Residence
Rural area	11 (6-19.75)	< 0.001
City	2 (0.7-5)
Resident manner
Living alone	18 (10-23)	< 0.001
Not living alone	4 (1-7)
First diagnosis
Yes	1 (0.325-4)	< 0.001
No	6 (2-12)
Medical insurance
Yes	4 (1-9)	< 0.001
No	23 (18-28)
Receiving liver-computed tomography test in the first visit
Yes	2 (0.6-5)	< 0.001
No	7 (4-13)
Receiving liver color ultrasound in the first visit
Yes	3 (1-7)	< 0.001
No	14 (9-22.25)

Table 6 Kruskal-Wallis H analysis for demographic differences in diagnostic delay, median (interquartile range)

Characteristics	Diagnostic delay (months)	P value
Age
< 50 years	3 (1-7)
50-60 years	5 (2-10)	< 0.001
60-70 years	7 (2-14)
≥ 70 years	8 (0.8-23)
Years of education
≤ 6 years	10 (6-16)
7-9 years	5 (3-8)	< 0.001
10-12 years	2 (0.925-4)
≥ 12 years	0.5 (0.2-1.0)
Family size
1 population	12 (6-21.25)
2-3 populations	5 (1.5-11)	< 0.01
> 3 populations	2 (1.25-6)
Marital status
Married	4 (1-9)
Unmarried	18 (13.5-20.25)	< 0.001
Widowed	19 (11-24)
Divorced	15 (7.5-23)
Average annual family income
< 2 ten thousand RMB/year	20.5 (12.75-24.5)
2-4 ten thousand RMB/year	8 (5-12)
4-6 ten thousand RMB/year	4 (2-8)
6-8 ten thousand RMB/year	2 (0.775-4)	< 0.001
> 8 ten thousand RMB/year	0.5 (0.2-0.8)
Drinking years
< 10 years	9 (6.5-9.5)
10-20 years	2 (1-6)
20-30 years	4 (1-7)
30-40 years	6 (2-11)	< 0.001
40-50 years	7 (2-15)
> 50 years	20 (1-28)
Drinking mL-day
< 100 mL	4 (4-4)
100-250 mL	0.2 (0.2-0.9)
250-500 mL	2 (0.6-5)
500-1000 mL	5 (2-10)	< 0.001
> 1000 mL	14 (8-23)
Types of wine
Baijiu	3 (0.9-6)
Red wine	0.6 (0.4-0.8)
Beer	12.5 (6.75-18.25)
Rice wine	12 (6-18)	< 0.001
Various wines	6 (2-13)