Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward hepatitis B virus among obstetricians and gynecologists: a cross-sectional study
Abstract Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection represents a global health burden that can lead to acute illness, chronic complications, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) occurs in about 70–90% of deliveries in infected mothers whose HBV DNA vir...
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| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Egyptian Liver Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s43066-025-00427-x |
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| author | Mohamed Farouk Mohamed Abdelghani Eman Marwan Manal M. Darwish Waleed Ahmad Ali Mostafa Seleem Hossam Abdou Ahmed M. A. Sobh Mohamed El-Kassas |
| author_facet | Mohamed Farouk Mohamed Abdelghani Eman Marwan Manal M. Darwish Waleed Ahmad Ali Mostafa Seleem Hossam Abdou Ahmed M. A. Sobh Mohamed El-Kassas |
| author_sort | Mohamed Farouk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection represents a global health burden that can lead to acute illness, chronic complications, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) occurs in about 70–90% of deliveries in infected mothers whose HBV DNA viral load is at least 200,000 IU/mL and in 10%–40% of deliveries in mothers with low-risk infection. The present study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge among obstetricians regarding HBV infection. It also aimed to assess obstetricians’ attitudes toward their HBV-infected patients and to investigate their current practices. Results One-hundred and seventy-eight Egyptian obstetricians were enrolled in this study. Most of them had moderate and high knowledge scores about HBV infection, 75.8% and 10.7% respectively. Among all knowledge questions of all enrolled physicians (2138/3204), 66.7% were answered correctly. Only 14% of the study group knew that 90% of infants born to HBV-infected women would develop chronic infection if precautions to prevent MTCT were not taken. Among the enrolled obstetricians, 66.9% reported needlestick injury in the past 12 months. Only 13/178 (7.3%) answered correctly about dealing with needlestick injuries from HBV-infected women. More than 90% of enrolled obstetricians were vaccinated against HBV infection. Less than 20% of the study group reported that they never tested women for their HBV status during counseling before getting pregnant. More than 80% of obstetricians always inform HBV pregnant women that their newborn infants need to receive prophylaxis to prevent perinatal HBV transmission. More than 70% of the study group expressed fear of being infected because they are afraid of transmitting the disease to their family. More than 75% of them had concerns about working with HBV-infected health workers. Conclusions Findings of the current study revealed that the status of Egyptian obstetricians’ awareness of HBV infection is adequate to some extent in some points and still not satisfactory enough in other points. These gaps should be addressed, which would reflect on better practice of health care services introduced to HBV-infected mothers and their infants. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-656121fe9741467dba146fc78cf765ee |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2090-6226 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Egyptian Liver Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-656121fe9741467dba146fc78cf765ee2025-08-20T02:40:15ZengSpringerOpenEgyptian Liver Journal2090-62262025-06-0115111210.1186/s43066-025-00427-xKnowledge, attitude, and practice toward hepatitis B virus among obstetricians and gynecologists: a cross-sectional studyMohamed Farouk0Mohamed Abdelghani1Eman Marwan2Manal M. Darwish3Waleed Ahmad Ali4Mostafa Seleem5Hossam Abdou6Ahmed M. A. Sobh7Mohamed El-Kassas8Department of Tropical Medicine and Gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine, New Valley UniversityDepartment of Tropical Medicine and Gastroenterology, Assiut UniversityEndemic Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan UniversityDepartment of Public Health and Community Medicine, Assiut UniversityDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, New Valley UniversityDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo UniversityDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan UniversityDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Assiut UniversityEndemic Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan UniversityAbstract Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection represents a global health burden that can lead to acute illness, chronic complications, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) occurs in about 70–90% of deliveries in infected mothers whose HBV DNA viral load is at least 200,000 IU/mL and in 10%–40% of deliveries in mothers with low-risk infection. The present study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge among obstetricians regarding HBV infection. It also aimed to assess obstetricians’ attitudes toward their HBV-infected patients and to investigate their current practices. Results One-hundred and seventy-eight Egyptian obstetricians were enrolled in this study. Most of them had moderate and high knowledge scores about HBV infection, 75.8% and 10.7% respectively. Among all knowledge questions of all enrolled physicians (2138/3204), 66.7% were answered correctly. Only 14% of the study group knew that 90% of infants born to HBV-infected women would develop chronic infection if precautions to prevent MTCT were not taken. Among the enrolled obstetricians, 66.9% reported needlestick injury in the past 12 months. Only 13/178 (7.3%) answered correctly about dealing with needlestick injuries from HBV-infected women. More than 90% of enrolled obstetricians were vaccinated against HBV infection. Less than 20% of the study group reported that they never tested women for their HBV status during counseling before getting pregnant. More than 80% of obstetricians always inform HBV pregnant women that their newborn infants need to receive prophylaxis to prevent perinatal HBV transmission. More than 70% of the study group expressed fear of being infected because they are afraid of transmitting the disease to their family. More than 75% of them had concerns about working with HBV-infected health workers. Conclusions Findings of the current study revealed that the status of Egyptian obstetricians’ awareness of HBV infection is adequate to some extent in some points and still not satisfactory enough in other points. These gaps should be addressed, which would reflect on better practice of health care services introduced to HBV-infected mothers and their infants.https://doi.org/10.1186/s43066-025-00427-xHBVObstetriciansGynecologistsKnowledgeAttitudePractice |
| spellingShingle | Mohamed Farouk Mohamed Abdelghani Eman Marwan Manal M. Darwish Waleed Ahmad Ali Mostafa Seleem Hossam Abdou Ahmed M. A. Sobh Mohamed El-Kassas Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward hepatitis B virus among obstetricians and gynecologists: a cross-sectional study Egyptian Liver Journal HBV Obstetricians Gynecologists Knowledge Attitude Practice |
| title | Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward hepatitis B virus among obstetricians and gynecologists: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full | Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward hepatitis B virus among obstetricians and gynecologists: a cross-sectional study |
| title_fullStr | Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward hepatitis B virus among obstetricians and gynecologists: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward hepatitis B virus among obstetricians and gynecologists: a cross-sectional study |
| title_short | Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward hepatitis B virus among obstetricians and gynecologists: a cross-sectional study |
| title_sort | knowledge attitude and practice toward hepatitis b virus among obstetricians and gynecologists a cross sectional study |
| topic | HBV Obstetricians Gynecologists Knowledge Attitude Practice |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s43066-025-00427-x |
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