Unemployment and Illiteracy Are Predictors of Hepatitis B Virus-Related Stigma and Discrimination

Background: HBV is a serious threat to society in India as around 1,00,000 people die from HBV every year. How-ever, very few studies from India have evaluated the magnitude of stigma faced by HBV patients. So, there was an unmet need to estimate the HBV-related stigma to design the preventive strategies. Hence, the aim of this study was to quantitatively assess the proportions of stigma and discrimination and factors predicting them among HBV patients. Metbods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2016 to October 2019. A total of 350 HBV patients and 100 healthy respondents were interviewed for knowledge and awareness about HBV and various stigma characteristics. Results: The mean age of HBV subjects was 45.10 +/- 11.70 years, and controls were 36.20 +/- 12.27 years; males constituted 60% of HBV subjects and 71% of controls. Negative symptoms such as shame, avoidance, and putting others in danger were felt by 70-90% of HBV patients. Around 60% of HBV patients felt that hepatitis B could be transmitted by sharing utensils thinking that saliva is the mode of transmission. The knowledge about transmission of HBV by sexual intercourse, intravenous drug use, and mother to child was present in 88%, 75%, and 52% of HBV patients and 32%,38%, and 40% of healthy individuals, respec-tively. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that male gender (AOR-2.38, CI 1.48-3.81, P < 0.01), under matric-ulates (AOR-2.03, CI 1.22-3.44, P < 0.01) and unemployed (AOR-2.16, CI 1.33-3.53, P < 0.01) were significant independent predictors of significant discrimination. Conclusion: The magnitude of HBV-related stigma is high in the Indian population, and illiteracy and unemployment were significant predictors of a severe grade of discrimination associated with HBV.