Low knowledge about hepatitis B prevention among pregnant women in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Public Deposited
Back to Parent Record Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download file
Request Version for Screen Reader
Last modified date
  • August 26, 2022
Creator
Abstract
  • Infants infected perinatally with hepatitis B (HBV) are at the highest risk of developing chronic hepatitis and associated sequelae. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HBV requires improved screening and awareness of the disease. This study evaluated existing HBV knowledge among pregnant mothers (n = 280) enrolled in two HBV studies in urban maternity centers in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. All mothers responded to three knowledge questions upon study enrollment. Baseline levels of knowledge related to HBV transmission, treatment, prevention, and symptoms were low across all participants: 68.8% did not know how HBV was transmitted, 70.7% did not know how to prevent or treat HBV MTCT, and 79.6% did not know signs and symptoms of HBV. Over half of participants responded “I don’t know” to all questions. HBV-positive women who participated in both studies (n= 46) were asked the same questions during both studies and showed improved knowledge after screening and treatment, despite no formal educational component in either study (p < 0.001). These findings highlight the need for intensified education initiatives in highly endemic areas to improve PMTCT efforts.
Methodology
  • This study is a secondary analysis of data collected during two studies of HBV prevention of maternal-to-child transmission (PMTCT) in Kinshasa, DRC: The Arresting Vertical Transmission of HBV (AVERT) study and the ongoing Birth Dose Immunogenicity (BDI) study. Both studies were conducted in two large, private, not-for-profit facilities: Kingasani and Binza maternity centers. Mothers in the AVERT study were HBV-positive women who enrolled during prenatal visits in 2018-2019. Mothers in the BDI study included previously identified HBV-positive women from AVERT who consented to join BDI, as well as newly screened, mostly HBV-negative women who were enrolled when they presented for delivery in 2019. Upon initial study enrollment, participants completed a standardized questionnaire on demographics and clinical characteristics; this questionnaire included a section on HBV knowledge regarding modes of transmission, signs and symptoms of infection, PMTCT measures, and perceived severity of HBV infection. Mothers who participated in both AVERT and BDI completed the questionnaire at AVERT enrollment and again approximately 9 months later at BDI enrollment. In this dataset, we report mothers’ responses to the baseline questionnaires collected during the AVERT and BDI studies to record demographic traits and to assess HBV knowledge among participants in both studies. HBV knowledge scores were calculated as the sum of up to 9 correct answers to 3 knowledge questions asked in the questionnaire. The wealth index variable was calculated using a principal component analyses of 12 demographic variables: number of people/room in home, number of beds in home, number of radios in home, number of tvs in home, number of phones in home, number of fridges in home, whether the household owns a car, whether the household has electricity, whether the household uses electric, wood, or gas to cook, and whether the household has access to private water.
Date of publication
DOI
Kind of data
  • Numeric
Resource type
  • Dataset
License
  • CC0 1.0 Universal
Language
  • English

Relations

Parents:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details KAP_Publicly_Available_Data.xlsx 2022-08-26 Public Download