Brouard Cécile, Gautier Arnaud, Saboni Leïla, Jestin Christine, Semaille Caroline, Beltzer Nathalie
Department for infectious diseases, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), 12, rue du Val d'Osne, Saint-Maurice Cedex, 94415, France.
BMC Public Health. 2013 Jun 13;13:576. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-576.
Little is known about the knowledge, perceptions and prevention practices of the French general population with respect to Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. This article describes this population's knowledge of HBV, their perceptions of the disease, and associated screening and vaccination practices. It compares these indicators with those observed in the same population for HIV, an infection with a chronic course and transmission modes resembling those of HBV.
A module on hepatitis B was added into the HIV KABP (Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs and Practices) survey which was carried out telephonically in 2010 among a random sample of 9,014 individuals aged between 18-69 and living in metropolitan France.
Compared with HIV, the general population was less aware that needle exchange during intravenous drug use and sexual relationships are HBV transmission modes (HBV: 89.9% and 69.7%; HIV: 99.1% and 99.4%). The fear of both illnesses was similar at 20.3%. The individual perceived risk of infection was higher for HBV than for HIV with, respectively, 60.8% and 40.3% of respondents believing they had an equal or greater risk of being infected than the average person. However, the percentage of those reporting HBV screening during their lifetime (27.4%) was half that for HIV screening (61.4%). In multivariate analysis, HBV screening was reported more often by individuals born in areas with high HBV endemicity (OR = 2.1 [95% CI: 1.5-2.9]) than by those born in low HBV endemicity areas, and more often by those who reported they had taken drugs intravenously during their lifetime (OR = 2.2 [95% CI: 1.2-4.2]) than those who did not report such behavior. Almost one in two respondents (47%) reported HBV vaccination. The intermediate or high endemicity groups did not report vaccination more often than those born in low endemicity areas nor did those reporting intravenously drug use compared with those who did not.
This study highlights very contrasting levels of knowledge, perceptions and practices regarding HBV and HIV in the French general population. Our results demonstrate the need to improve the general and high-risk populations' knowledge of HBV, in particular concerning sexual transmission, in order to improve screening and vaccination practices.
法国普通民众对乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）感染的知识、认知和预防措施了解甚少。本文描述了该人群对HBV的了解、对该疾病的认知以及相关的筛查和疫苗接种情况。并将这些指标与在同一人群中观察到的HIV相关指标进行比较，HIV是一种病程慢性且传播方式与HBV相似的感染。
在2010年对居住在法国本土、年龄在18 - 69岁之间的9014名个体的随机样本进行电话调查的HIV KABP（知识、态度、信念和行为）调查中增加了一个关于乙型肝炎的模块。
与HIV相比，普通民众较少意识到静脉吸毒期间的针头交换和性行为是HBV的传播方式（HBV：89.9%和69.7%；HIV：99.1%和99.4%）。对这两种疾病的恐惧程度相似，为20.3%。个体认为感染HBV的风险高于HIV，分别有60.8%和40.3%的受访者认为他们感染的风险等于或高于普通人。然而，报告一生中进行过HBV筛查的比例（27.4%）是HIV筛查比例（61.4%）的一半。在多变量分析中，出生在HBV高流行地区的个体报告进行HBV筛查的频率（OR = 2.1 [95% CI：1.5 - 2.9]）高于出生在HBV低流行地区的个体，报告一生中曾静脉吸毒的个体进行HBV筛查的频率（OR = 2.2 [95% CI：1.2 - 4.2]）高于未报告此类行为的个体。近二分之一的受访者（47%）报告接种过HBV疫苗。中等或高流行组报告接种疫苗的频率并不高于出生在低流行地区的个体，报告静脉吸毒的个体与未报告的个体相比也是如此。
本研究突出了法国普通民众对HBV和HIV在知识、认知和行为方面的巨大差异。我们的结果表明，有必要提高普通人群和高危人群对HBV的了解，特别是关于性传播方面，以改善筛查和疫苗接种情况。
