FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH TRAVEL RELATED HEALTH PROBLEMS AMONG JAPANESE TRAVELERS IN THAILAND

This cross sectional study whose main objective was to explore factors associated with travel related health problems among Japanese travelers in Thailand, involved 394 respondents, aged above 18 years, purposively sampled and departing Suvarnabhumi Airport. A self administered pretested questionnaire was used to collected data. Univariate analysis was done using Chi square test and independent samples t- test. Multivariate analysis was done using binary logistic regression. The dependent variable was travel related health problem (s) among the travelers while in Thailand. Majority of the travelers had no vaccination for the trip (95.4%), did not access pre- travel health information (64.5%), did not consult a travel heath clinic before travel (93.9%) and had high attitude on travel health (80.7%) and had medium knowledge on travel health (64.4%). Eating street food was the most common travel health risky practice (35.5%). About 32% of the travelers reported having developed a health problem while in Thailand. Diarrhea/lower abdominal pain (13.8%) was the most common health problem. Multivariate analysis showed negative association between health problems and age (p=0.005) and positive associations between health problems and eating street food (p=0.001) and drinking un-bottled/un-boiled or un-filtered water (p=0.001). Health problems among Japanese travelers in Thailand are 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 food and water safety during travel with special attention to youth, and promoting hygienic practices in food handling among street food vendors in Thailand are recommended.