Hepatitis B knowledge, attitudes and practices among Moroccan college students

Abstract

Viral Hepatitis B (HBV) prevalence in Morocco is estimated at 1.81%. University students are an exposed population due to their risky behaviors. Their knowledge about HBV is still unknown. The aim of our study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of college students in Casablanca about HBV. A cross-sectional study was carried out in January 2015 among the students of the eight schools of Hassan II University in Casablanca using a self-administered questionnaire. A knowledge score was calculated to compare the groups with sufficient and insufficient knowledge. A logistic regression adjusted on gender was performed to explore the factors associated with a sufficient knowledge about HBV (P<0.05). The response rate was 90.2% (n=652). The median age was 21 years old. From our sample, 97.5% knew the existence of "hepatitis". The main means of information were media and relatives. The most known way of infection was blood transmission (50.3%) while 11.5% believed in the effectiveness of the traditional methods of treatment. Eating with an HBV infected person was thought to be a risky behavior for 38% of the students. A knowledge level that was deemed to be sufficient was scored by 31.1% of the students. The sufficient knowledge was correlated to being a health care student, being vaccinated and being married. Casablanca's student knowledge about HBV remains limited. We believe that improvements in awareness and access to immunization are needed. These measures would likely help decreasing HBV incidence in students and ensure a better social integration of patients.