Factors associated with travel related health problems among Japanese travelers in Thailand

Abstract

This cross sectional study conducted from February to March 2009 explored factors associated with travel related health problems among Japanese travelers aged 18 years and above in Thailand. The study involved 394 respondents purposively sampled at the departure lounge of Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. A self administered pretested questionnaire was used to collected data. Association between independent and dependent variable was assessed using Chi square test and t- test. Binary logistic regression was used to control for confounding factors. P values of less than or equal to 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Majority of the travelers were male (58.6%), aged less than 24 years (29.7%), with college/undergraduate education level (42.7%), earning less than 3 million yen annually, government/company employees, Buddhists (53.2%), single (52.2%), had stayed for 4 days (62.2%), in urban areas (82.6%), had travelled to Thailand for holiday (84.9%), had travel health insurance (74.7%), had not been vaccinated for the trip (95.4%), did not access pre- travel heath information (64.5%), and did not consult a travel heath clinic before travel (93.9%). Most travelers (80.7%) had high attitude score on travel health but had medium knowledge on travel health (64.4%). Eating street food was the common travel health risky practice (35.5%). Travelers who reported having developed a health problem while in Thailand were 32.1%. Diarrhea/lower abdominal pain (13.8%) was the most common health problem followed by skin symptoms (11.0%), stomach symptoms (7.7%) and respiratory problems (6.4%). Logistic regression showed association between health problems among the travelers and age (p = 0.005), eating street food (p = 0.001), and drinking water (p = 0.001). This study suggests that health problems among Japanese travelers in Thailand are mainly related to food and water consumption with young people being at higher risk. Providing more information about travel health to Japanese travelers, educating them on the risk of street food and unsafe drinking and promoting hygienic practices in food handling among street food vendors in Thailand are recommended.