HEPATITIS C VIRUS (HCV) INFECTION

CROSS-SECTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE ABOUT HEPATITIS C VIRUS (HCV) INFECTION IN HCV INFECTED INDIVIDUALS

Abstract

Background: With a high magnitude of hepatitis C in the country and the
burden still rising it was imperative to assess the knowledge of HCV infected individuals, which
would determine the further spread of the disease or otherwise based on the adoption of good
practices by these patients. Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge and practice regarding
HCV in Hepatitis C patients presenting at Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital, Lahore and to
formulate recommendations based on study results to improve knowledge about hepatitis
C. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Setting: Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital
(GTTH), Lahore. Period: January to May 2015. Methods: The patients of hepatitis C registered
at GTTH for treatment were included in the study after obtaining voluntary informed consent
from the respondents and approval of the study from the institutional ethical review board. The
convenience non-probability sampling technique was used to recruit 169 study participants.
A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect information, which was recorded
and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences version 21.0. Data is described
in the form of frequencies and percentages for categorical variables and mean and standard
deviation for continuous variable. Results: Of the 169 HCV patients, 110(65%) had heard of
hepatitis C before acquiring it, the popular source of information regarding HCV was identified
as relatives by 67(39.8%) of the patients. 70(41.4%) of the respondents were aware of a virus
being the cause of hepatitis C, 140(82.8%) knew that HCV can be spread through sharing
injecting equipment, nearly half the respondents 87(51.5%) had asked their family members
to get tested for HCV and 68(40.2%) patients practiced safe sex. Conclusion: Majority of the
respondents had heard of HCV before acquiring the disease. A large proportion of patients were
aware of the disease being spread through sharing injecting equipment. Half of the patients had
their family members tested for HCV. But less than half practiced safe sex.