Education as a predictor of liver testing behaviour: Insights from a large-scale MASLD awareness survey in India
This study reveals a catastrophic knowledge deficit regarding MASLD, with 94% of participants completely unaware of the condition. The strong association between education, knowledge, and testing behavior highlights a critical knowledge-to-action pathway. The extremely low overall testing rate (1.8%) indicates massive underutilization of liver health screening, particularly among unemployed and less educated individuals. These findings underscore the urgent need for comprehensive public health education on liver health, especially given India's rising MASLD prevalence and young demographic profile. Targeted interventions to improve awareness and facilitate testing access among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups are essential to address this public health crisis.
Authors
- Sushila Mhatre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7281-0500)
- Kanica Kaushal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9076-8280)
- Manoj Kumar Sharma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1129-1814)
- Aditi Tomar
- S. N. Singh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2451-5303)
- Sumridhi Gautam
- Guresh Kumar
- Priyanka Aggarwal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0489-6713)
Institutions
- Rajasthan University of Health Sciences (IN)
- Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (IN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PLoS ONE
- Published
- 2025-11-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0335857
- Primary Topic
- Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00