Awareness and Attitude towards Hepatitis B Infection among Medical and Dental Students in Lucknow

ABSTRACT

Health professionals, especially physicians, medical and dental students are always in direct contact with patients and are vulnerable to the acquisition of infections like hepatitis B.4 Moreover, graduates in dentistry also require advanced health care training, clinical knowledge on infection control.5 Therefore, the current study was conducted to assess and compare the level of awareness and attitude towards hepatitis B infection among medical and dental students of Lucknow. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 medical and dental students of King George Medical University, Lucknow using a self-structured questionnaire, over the time period of 3 months. This selfadministered questionnaire comprised of 24 closed-ended questions to assess the awareness and attitude of students regarding HBV infection. 100 medical and 100 dental students were selected using simple random sampling method. Results: The study was conducted among 200 medical and dental students. Majority 99(99%) medical students and 98(98%) dental students had heard about hepatitis B infection. 97(97%) medical students thought it was blood borne infection and 93(93%) dental students thought it was a blood borne infection. 99 (99%) medical and 100(100%) dental students thought it was transmitted by all the given routes. It was noticed that only 5(5%) medical and only 4(4%) dental student checked their antibody status after vaccination. It was also noticed that 61(61%) medical and 47 (47%) dental students thought dentist or physician infected with HBV should avoid patient treatment especially surgery. 56(56%) medical and 61 (61%) dental students thought infection of Hep B can be prevented by Hep B Vaccine completely. Conclusion: Majority of medical and dental students have heard about HBV infection, they know about modes of transmission and vaccination schedule. It was noted that, majority of medical and dental students undergo vaccination for hepatitis B, but all of them have not completed all three doses of vaccination. The reason behind this attitude was lack of motivation or they never thought of it. Most of them acknowledged that dentists are at high risk of exposure and every patient undergoing surgical procedure should go for HBV investigation. A significant fraction of medical and dental students infected with HBV did not avoid working on the patients even during surgery. Hence, a regular awareness program for all the students would be very beneficial.