Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the association between patient's knowledge of Hepatitis-B and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL).
Methods: A cross sectional, descriptive study was undertaken with 390 hepatitis-B patients attending two public hospitals in Quetta City, Pakistan. Knowledge of hepatitis-B was assessed using a pre-validated questionnaire. European Quality of Life scale was used for the assessment of HRQoL. Descriptive analysis was used to elaborate patients' demographic characteristics while inferential statistics were applied to report the association among study variables. Spearman's rho correlation was used to identify the association between variables.
Results: Out of 390, (230, 59.5 %) were males and the mean age of the subjects was 36.2 +/- 9.2 years. One hundred and three (26 %) had primary level of education and 109 (27.9 %) were employees in the private sector. Eighty four (21 %) had a monthly income of between 10001-15000 Pakistan rupees (1 PKR = 0.0115527 USD) with 272 (69.7 %) respondents resident in urban areas. Mean HRQoL and Hepatitis-B related knowledge (HBRK) scores were categorized as poor (0.37 +/- 0.3) and (8.52 +/- 2.7) respectively. The correlation coefficient between HRQoL and HBRK was -0.102 (p < 0.001), indicating a week negative association between the study variables.
Conclusion: The findings indicate a negative association between Hepatitis-B related knowledge and HRQoL. Therefore, providing disease-related knowledge to patients does not necessarily improve HRQoL. More attention should be given to identify individual factors that affect HRQoL among patients with Hepatitis-B.