Abstract
Objective
This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitudes of pregnant females in Al-Ahsa city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) toward hepatitis B virus infection.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was done at the Maternity and Children’s Hospital, Al-Ahsa. A total of 422 of every third pregnant women were recruited from 6/12/2019 to 20/12/2019. Self-administered questionnaire was provided that contained three aspects: sociodemographic, perception and source of information about hepatitis B, and attitude toward hepatitis B infection. Analysis was performed using SPSS version 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY).
Results
A total of 422 pregnant women participated in this study with a response rate of 93.7%. Among them, 44.79% had a university degree or higher education level, about 82% had information about hepatitis B virus (HBV) during their pregnancy, 0.9% knew a person with HBV, 48.1% knew that hepatitis B is caused by virus, 72% knew that hepatitis B has vaccine, 41.9% knew that hepatitis B spreads via mother, 79.6% were willing to do hepatitis B test during pregnancy, 80.1% were willing to allow for kids’ vaccination against HBV, and 83.4% were willing to allow their kids for hepatitis B testing. There was a significant relationship between the level of education and the knowledge score. And there was a significant relationship between the level of education and attitudes score.
Conclusion
There is insufficient knowledge among pregnant women regarding hepatitis B infection, while pregnant women showed remarkably positive attitudes regarding therapy and immunization. So, we highly recommend for awareness campaigns about viral hepatitis regarding means of transmission, and possible treatment options.