Factors affecting compliance to hospital visit among clubfoot patients: A cross-sectional study from a tertiary referral clubfoot clinic in the developing country

PURPOSE: Ensuring compliance to treatment protocol, especially regular visit to treating facility, is an important aspect of clubfoot management. However, the factors affecting compliance to follow-up schedule are myriad.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken among caregivers of clubfoot patients from a tertiary referral clubfoot clinic in a developing country. Hospital records were reviewed to collect demographic data and subjects were classified as either "regular" or "irregular" if they missed ≤3 and >3 scheduled hospital visits, respectively. Various factors that could affect compliance such as family size, number of children, literacy of caregiver, occupation of breadwinner, and time taken to travel to hospital were studied. Caregivers were probed regarding the reason for their irregularity.

RESULTS: A total of 238 patients were included, of which 138 formed the "regular" group and the rest 100 formed the "irregular" group. Patients in the regular group were significantly younger (mean age 43.8 months) compared to the irregular group (59.8 months; p = 0.001). The mean follow-up period in the regular group was 28.1 months and in the irregular group was 33.8 months. On univariate analysis, age, duration of follow-up, and transport duration were found to be significant between the two groups. However, multivariate analysis revealed that female children with clubfoot are more likely to be irregular as compared to males ( p = 0.038).

CONCLUSION: In a developing country setting, higher age and being a female child are associated with irregularity to hospital visit protocol. At clubfoot clinics, identifying these children and counseling their caregivers might improve compliance.