Knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B among households in Malaysia: a community-based cross-sectional survey

Yogambigai Rajamoorthy, Niazlin Mohd Taib, Subramaniam Munusamy, Samsul Anwar, Abram Luther Wagner, Mudatsir Mudatsir, Ruth Mueller, Ulrich Kuch, David Alexander Groneberg, Harapan Harapan, Aye Aye Khin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BackgroundHepatitis B (HepB) is a major public health concern in Malaysia yet little is known about knowledge and awareness of this infection in the country. Such information is essential for designing effective intervention strategies for HepB prevention and control. The aim of this study was to characterize knowledge and awareness regarding HepB in Malaysia and to identify their associated sociodemographic determinants.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted between January and May 2016 in Selangor state of Malaysia. A two-stage cluster random sampling design was used and one adult member of selected households was interviewed face-to-face. Logistic regression was used to estimate the differences in knowledge and awareness between groups.ResultsA total of 764 households completed the interviews and were included in the final analysis. Only 36.9 and 38.8% of the participants had good knowledge and awareness, respectively. The factors associated with good knowledge were being in the 35-44year age group, Malay ethnicity, high educational attainment and high family income. Being Chinese, being older and having high educational attainment were determinants of having good awareness towards HepB. Participants who had good knowledge were 2.5 times more likely to also have good awareness (OR: 2.41, 95% CI: 1.78-3.26, p

Original languageEnglish
Article number47
Number of pages11
JournalBMC Public Health
Volume19
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Jan 2019

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