Characteristics associated with pre travel medical consultation in tourists visiting Cuzco, Peru

Background: International tourism is increasing. Preventive Medicine remains important, especially the Pre- Travel Consultation (PTC). Objective: To determinate, the characteristics of tourists associated with PTC in tourists at Cuzco, Peru. Methods: A cross-sectional, analytical study, a secondary analysis of data from a database generated by survey of foreign tourists who visited Cuzco, in the waiting room of the airport was performed. The main variable was to have had a PTC at the tourist’s country of residence, the area of residence was categorized according to health/risk of acquiring infectious diseases as traveler’s diarrhea during their stay. These and other variables were analyzed and statistical association with generalized linear models were done. Results: Of the 1827 tourists, 875 (48%) were men, with a median age of 33 years (range 18-88 years); 42% had a PTC. In the multivariate analysis, it was found that a PTC lower frequency was associated with male gender (aPR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.75-0.94), and a higher frequency was associated with have born (aPR: 1.77; 95% CI: 1.39-2.27) and reside in an area of low risk of acquiring infectious diseases (aPR: 1.95; 95% CI: 1.26-3.00), adjusted for the history of a disease. Conclusions: Sex, region of birth and residence of tourists (as risk of acquiring infectious diseases) are associated with having a PTC. These findings may serve the health and government attending tourists who come to our country.