ABSTRACT
Objectives: to assess knowledge and practices about eating various foods in patients suffering from Hepatitis B and C attending two public sector hospitals in Islamabad
Settings and design: this cross-sectional survey was conducted at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences [PIMS] and Federal Government Services Hospital [FGSH] in Islamabad, Pakistan; from December 2007 to May 2008 [6 months]
Patients and methods: one hundred forty five [145] patients were selected through systematic random sampling. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to collect the data at Outpatient Department of these hospitals; selecting every third hepatitis B or C patient and interviewing the respondents after taken an Informed written consent
Results: statistical Package for Social Science [SPSS] version 16.0 was used for analysis of the data. A total of 145 patients were interviewed, of whom 53% were females. Most respondents were educated up to matric or under, while 19% had no formal education. Spicy food and nuts were said to be the cause of hepatitis by 92% and 85% patients were avoiding spicy food in their diet. About 8% patients were not aware about relationship of diet and hepatitis
Conclusions: we conclude that the study population, though belonging to low income group, has adequate knowledge about the hepatitis. However, the misconceptions about spicy foods causing hepatitis among patients are commonly prevailing