Knowledge, attitude and practices concerning hepatitis B infection, among medical students in urban area of Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B is a serious, global, public health problem nearly two billion people in the world have been infected with HBV. Medical students represent a population that is at high‑risk group for acquiring and spreading hepatitis B infection (HBV). Despite increasing prevalence of HBV, there is paucity of information on knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) HBV among medical students. Objective of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, practices of hepatitis B infection among medical students.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from June 2017 to August 2017 on medical students at Sree Balaji Medical College, Chennai. A pretested questionnaire was used to collect the data from 200 undergraduate medical students.Results: In the present study 82.5% of medical students had correct knowledge that vaccine is available for hepatitis B .Regarding spread of Hepatitis B, 92.5% said that hepatitis B spreads by blood, 91.0% said that is spread by sexual contact, 97% revealed that vaccination can prevent the hepatitis B infection. With respect to the risk factors 95.5% said that shared needle is a risk factor for hepatitis B, Regarding the vaccination status of the students for hepatitis B only 32% are fully vaccinated, 30% are partially vaccinated and 38% are unvaccinated.Conclusions: This study showed that the knowledge and attitude of medical students are good, but practice was not sufficient only 32% of the medical students are fully vaccinated for Hepatitis B.