bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Mary Ann Benitez

Doctor urges screening for Hepatitis B because early detection saves lives and vaccination prevents infection

Patients in Hong Kong and nine Asian countries have a very low level of awareness of Hepatitis B, delaying their treatment and adversely affecting their health, a survey has found.

Up to 500,000 people in Hong Kong - 10 per cent of the adult population - are estimated to have chronic hepatitis B,  and 30 per cent of those will develop liver cirrhosis or liver cancer.

Across the region the disease is thought to affect 270 million people.

Despite the high prevalence of hepatitis B in Asia, the survey of 1,200 patients  found that 87 per cent of them did not know much about the disease, said Nancy Leung Wai-yee,  founding chairwoman of AsiaHep and a consultant at Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital in Tai Po, who presented the findings.

The  surveyed covered Hong Kong, the mainland, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Among Hong Kong patients interviewed, 91 per cent admitted to poor awareness. On how the virus is transmitted, 24 per cent did not know compared with a regional average of 42 per cent.

Another indication that patients were poorly informed was seen in the high percentage of respondents having unrealistic expectations of treatment.

Many hoped for a complete cure, when in reality a cure was not possible for most of them, said Dr Leung.

Dr Leung said the lack of knowledge might be due to the fact that doctors spent little time explaining the disease at the time of diagnosis.

In Hong Kong, 73 per cent of the patients said they spent less than 10 minutes with the doctor at initial diagnosis, compared with 58 per cent of patients in the region.

The survey also found that patients tended to rely solely on doctors to decide treatment options, with 56 per cent of patients in Hong Kong not involved at all in treatment decisions, compared with a regional average of 20 per cent.

'We want to catch those in the early phase of the infection. It is a golden opportunity for treatment and controlling the virus better,' she said.

Dr Leung said hepatitis B was 'a silent infection', showing no symptoms. Once the disease reaches its late stage, 'the consequence is early death'.

She urged people to go for a hepatitis B screening test. If they test positive, they must see a doctor promptly. 'They would need long-term follow-up,' she said. Those who test negative are encouraged to get vaccinated.

A patient yesterday told of how his family had been devastated by hepatitis B.

Mr Lai, a 55-year-old freelance writer, said three of his siblings had the liver disease and two had died. Mr Lai was tested 15 years ago and by that time already had cirrhosis of the liver. He had a liver transplant three years ago.



Liver disease still HK's silent killer