Awareness and attitudes regarding Helicobacter pylori infection in Chinese physicians and public population: A national cross‐sectional survey

Abstract

BackgroundThere is a lack of reports on the awareness of Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) prevention and treatment in the general Chinese population. And whether the knowledge level will affect their action toward screening was unknown. This study aimed to conduct a national survey on the knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding H pylori infection in Chinese physicians and the public.MethodsThis was an Internet‐based survey of the general Chinese population and Chinese physicians from different specialties, carried out from January to February 2019. Both surveys (general population's and physicians') included questions to assess the knowledge and attitudes toward H pylori and its action.ResultsA total of 3211 people and 546 physicians were enrolled. In the population, the proportion of subjects who answered correctly to all questions about H pylori's infectivity was only 16%, and that for H pylori's harmfulness and that for H pylori preventive measures were 35% and 43.6%, respectively. In general, physicians had a better understanding of H pylori's harmfulness (83.9%) than the other population. The vast majority of the surveyed population (87.0%) and physicians (82.2%) supported a national H pylori screening plan to prevent gastric cancer. The support ratio paralleled with the overall knowledge level. Unexpectedly, gastroenterologists tend to have a relatively low support rate for H pylori screening than non‐gastroenterologists (58.2% vs 84.2%, P < .001), which may be related to consideration of heavy medical burden (67.3%).ConclusionsThe general population in China has relatively insufficient awareness of H pylori, which is incompatible with the highly infectious status. More works on health education are needed to improve the knowledge of this gastric pathogen.

Helicobacter pylori Infection: Comparison of Knowledge between Health Science and Non-Health Science University Students

“…This descriptive cross-sectional study compared the knowledge of H. pylori between health science and non-health science undergraduate students in Saudi Arabia and found that the overall level of knowledge was poor among both groups. Our finding of poor knowledge was similar to those reported among physicians and students in a national survey in China [22] and among the healthy population in Korea [24]. A lower level of knowledge (24.6%) was also reported among the general population in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) [25].…”

“…Furthermore, a large proportion of our respondents reported "reading articles" and "media" as their main sources of information. This may explain why most of the students (76.9%) reported having heard about H. pylori, which is a higher proportion than those reported among Chinese physicians and the general population (49.8%) [22] and those reported in a review of nine studies from China, South Korea, North America, Ethiopia, India, and Malaysia (22-33%). Eight of the nine studies were conducted among the population at risk, except North America, where they were from the general population.…”

“…There appears to be limited knowledge about H. pylori among the general population, primarily related to transmission. Evidence shows low awareness of H. pylori infection in Canada [18], the United States [19], China [20][21][22], and South Korea [23,24]. Knowledge about screening and prevention among risk groups, early diagnosis, and treatment may prompt people to seek measures to prevent the infection [9,24].…”

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Adults in the United Arab Emirates Regarding Helicobacter pylori induced Gastric Ulcers and Cancers

“…Considering the lack of current tools evaluating H. pylori KAPs, particularly among high-risk populations, a tool was developed by the authors using the World Health Organization Guide to Developing Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Surveys (WHO, 2008). Additionally, literature and international studies were used for further guidance on how to structure the questionnaire (Canbaz, Sunter, Peksen and Leblebicioglu, 2005) (Ahmed, Salih, Jafri, Ali Shah and Hamid, 2009) (Abebaw et al, 2014) (Tsongo et al, 2015) (Driscoll et al, 2017) (Cano-Contreras et al, 2018) (Wu et al, 2020). The questionnaire was developed in English then translated to Arabic.…”

What is the general Chinese public’s awareness of and attitudes towardsHelicobacter pyloriscreening and associated health behaviours? A cross-sectional study

“… 13 14 Such opportunistic screening is performed on a voluntary basis, based on an individual or physician’s request. 14 The screening rate for HP in China (21.7%) is far from satisfactory, 15 and the general population’s lack of awareness of HP risk factors or symptoms and negative attitude towards screening contribute to delays in diagnosis. 11 …”