Hepatitis B coverage and its awareness among medical, dental, and nursing students of a health university in Tumkur Karnataka – A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT Background: Hepatitis B is a well-known global public health problem. Globally, 360 million people are chronically infected, of whom almost one million people die annually of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver disease. Health care workers are at high occupational risk of HBV infection due to their potential contact with blood or body fluids and possible needle stick injuries. Since students of health professions (medical, nursing, and paramedical) are future health care workers that are early exposed to the risk of HBV infection during their clinical training, it is essential to know their vaccination coverage and awareness regarding hepatitis B infection. Objective: (1) To assess the coverage of hepatitis B vaccination among medical, dental, nursing, and paramedical students of Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education. (2) To find out the reason for their non-vaccination/or partial vaccination. (3) To assess the awareness regarding hepatitis B among study subjects. Methods: A cross-sectional study among the medical, dental, nursing, and paramedical students of Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education between February 2021 and August 2023. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection through an online survey method. A total of 554 students responded to the online survey. Results: Hepatitis B coverage among the study subjects was 29.4%. 28.2% were partially immunized and 42.4% were unimmunized. Reason for not immunizing was lack of awareness regarding the need for vaccination (40.3%) and postponement till another time (40.3%). Awareness regarding hepatitis B was 89.9%. Conclusion: Coverage of hepatitis B vaccination was poor. Even though the awareness of hepatitis B was good, practice was poor.