Introduction:

The stigma attached to people with tuberculosis is an important challenge posed to the control of this disease. Hence the need to know what factors trigger it, for they may affect adherence to treatment, increasing complications and mortality.

Objectives:

Determine the factors associated to stigma in people with tuberculosis from a high-risk region in Peru.

Methods:

A correlational study was conducted of 110 patients treated for tuberculosis. The factors analyzed were family function as gauged by the Family Apgar scale, sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, knowledge about the disease and doctor-patient communication as measured through a survey. Stigma was determined by Yang's scale. Bivariate analysis was based on the chi-square test, whereas the relationship between variables was evaluated by Pearson's correlation and multivariate linear regression.

Results:

The level of stigma showed a cut off value ≥ 9 in 21.3% in sensitive tuberculosis and 69.4% in multiresistant tuberculosis, with significant differences (p = 0.000). Multivariate linear regression analysis found that a low level of knowledge about tuberculosis (ß = -0.32; p = 0.000), low scores on the Family Apgar scale (ß = -0.41; p = <0.000) and poor doctor-patient communication (ß = -0.47; p = 0.000) were negatively associated to stigma.

Conclusions:

The study found a high level of stigma associated to tuberculosis, as well as a negative association between stigma and knowledge about the disease, family function and communication with the doctor.

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