Personal preventive measures for patients with different symptoms of influenza-like illness

Abstract

Introduction Influenza viruses affect 5-15% of the population annually and cause a broad spectrum of disease severity. Handwashing and wearing face masks are common preventive measures against transmission in the community. Our study investigated how different influenza-related symptoms would affect preventive measures. Methods We conducted a longitudinal study with 4 rounds of telephone interviews. We collected data on symptom profile and the corresponding personal preventive measures. We used generalized estimating equations to assess the effect of different symptoms of influenza-like illness (ILI) and their combinations on preventive measures taken. Results We interviewed 3249 participants contributing to 8722 responses over 4 rounds. 3592 responses reported having any ILI-related symptoms and 22.2% of them have taken preventive measures. Of these, 49.9% and 53.9% increased frequency of handwashing and wearing mask, respectively. Younger subjects (aged 0-15y) were more likely to wash their hands (adjusted odds ratio, aOR = 2.4, 95% CI=1.6-3.7), but less likely to wear masks (aOR = 0.3, 95% CI=0.2-0.6). Subjects with fever plus cough (aOR = 6.2, 95% CI=3.6-10.8), fever plus runny nose (aOR = 2.6, 95% CI=1.6-4.2), or fever plus sore throat (aOR = 3.4, 95% CI=2.2-5.3) were more likely to increase frequency of handwashing, while subjects with fever plus cough (aOR = 21.5, 95% CI=11.3-40.6), fever plus runny nose (aOR = 12.5, 95% CI=7.6-20.8) fever plus sore throat (aOR = 10.5, 95% CI=6.6-16.6), cough plus runny nose (aOR = 3.3, 95% CI=1.6-6.9), or cough plus sore throat (aOR = 2.4, 95% CI=1.7-3.4) were more likely to wear face masks. However, subjects with runny nose plus sore throat were less likely to increase frequency of washing hand (OR = 0.4, 95% CI=0.2-0.9) or wearing mask (OR = 0.2, 95% CI=0.1-0.5). Discussion Understanding factors affecting preventive measures may help to refine public health messages during influenza season to targeted population.