Knowledge, attitudes, practices on hepatitis C and HCV screening: an Italian cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Hepatitis C has the highest burden in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and European Region. This study aimed to explore knowledge, attitudes and practices towards hepatitis C and HCV screening, which has been large-scale implemented in Italy recently. Methods An online nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted (Italy, December 2021). Five outcomes were used: HCV knowledge (from 0 to 100%: 100% represents the lowest knowledge); not being aware of the screening; wrong attitudes in case of contact with positive people (from 0 to 5: 5 represents more wrong attitudes); having performed an HCV test; sharing of blood-contaminated objects. Multivariable regressions were run. Results Participants were 813 (74.7% females; mean age 37 years, SD 12.4). The median score of HCV knowledge was 20% (IQR 16-24). There was a positive correlation between poor knowledge and wrong attitudes (p = 0.001). People who underwent an HCV test were less likely to have poor knowledge (p = 0.040). The 23.2% was not aware of screening existence. People who had a postgraduate degree were less likely of not being aware (p = 0.004). Investigating attitude score, the median was 0 (IQR 0-1). Increasing age was associated with wrong attitudes (p = 0.020). The 43.4% underwent an HCV test. This likelihood was greater for: residence in a municipality with more than 50000 inhabitants (p = 0.032); having at least one child (p = 0.009); considering oneself at risk (p = 0.004); being informed about HCV (p < 0.001). The 31.8% shared objects. Increasing age was associated with reduced odds of sharing (p = 0.033). The 72.4% would like to receive more information on HCV, preferring brochures and short videos. Conclusions This study showed good knowledge and attitudes, with a substantial frequency of individuals who never underwent an HCV test or shared contaminated objects. It also suggested brochures and short videos may be the most acceptable ways to implement awareness campaigns in comparable European contexts. Key messages • Italian general population had good knowledge and attitudes towards hepatitis C and its screening, while it showed poor practices. • Most of participants were willing to receive more information on HCV, especially through brochures and short videos.

aimed to explore knowledge, attitudes and practices towards hepatitis C and HCV screening, which has been large-scale implemented in Italy recently.Methods: An online nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted (Italy, December 2021).Five outcomes were used: HCV knowledge (from 0 to 100%: 100% represents the lowest knowledge); not being aware of the screening; wrong attitudes in case of contact with positive people (from 0 to 5: 5 represents more wrong attitudes); having performed an HCV test; sharing of blood-contaminated objects.Multivariable regressions were run.

Results:
Participants were 813 (74.7% females; mean age 37 years, SD 12.4).The median score of HCV knowledge was 20% (IQR 16-24).There was a positive correlation between poor knowledge and wrong attitudes (p = 0.001).People who underwent an HCV test were less likely to have poor knowledge (p = 0.040).The 23.2% was not aware of screening existence.People who had a postgraduate degree were less likely of not being aware (p = 0.004).Investigating attitude score, the median was 0 (IQR 0-1).Increasing age was associated with wrong attitudes (p = 0.020).The 43.4% underwent an HCV test.This likelihood was greater for: residence in a municipality with more than 50000 inhabitants (p = 0.032); having at least one child (p = 0.009); considering oneself at risk (p = 0.004); being informed about HCV (p < 0.001).The 31.8% shared objects.Increasing age was associated with reduced odds of sharing (p = 0.033).The 72.4% would like to receive more information on HCV, preferring brochures and short videos.

Conclusions:
This study showed good knowledge and attitudes, with a substantial frequency of individuals who never underwent an HCV test or shared contaminated objects.It also suggested brochures and short videos may be the most acceptable ways to implement awareness campaigns in comparable European contexts.

Key messages:
Italian general population had good knowledge and attitudes towards hepatitis C and its screening, while it showed poor practices.
Most of participants were willing to receive more information on HCV, especially through brochures and short videos.

Results:
In order to address the progress of vaccination and screening at regional level in Italy, a project was conducted in 2021-2022 in order to collect data on relevant indicators and issues.In particular, information was collected on both coverage indicators (for both vaccination and screening) adherence (for screening) and history and characteristics of the vaccination offer (e.g., targets, gratuity) and of screening (e.g., presence of clinical pathways, type of tests used).Collected data were shared with a multidisciplinary panel of experts on HPV-related diseases to issue recommendations to foster the elimination of cervical cancer in Italy.For this purpose, a survey was also conducted to identify potential actions in respect to vaccination, screening and treatment.

Lessons:
A great heterogeneity across Italian regions was observed.The following actions were identified to implement vaccination, screening and treatment: educational campaigns, reminders and active calls for both vaccination and screening and more interoperability of data and definition of clinical pathway involving a multidisciplinary medical team for the proper management of all HPV-related diseases.

Background:
Hypertension management remains a major public health challenge in primary care.Recent hypertension guidelines recommend the involvement of pharmacists for team-based care management of hypertension.Our objective is to systematically review the evidence of the impact of pharmacist care alone, or in collaboration, on BP amongst hypertensive outpatients compared with usual care.
One major focus is to assess the heterogeneity in the effects of these interventions to identify which ones work best in a given healthcare setting.The outcomes are the change in BP, BP at follow-up, or BP control.Results will be synthesized descriptively and, if appropriate, will be pooled across studies to perform meta-analysis.We published the study protocol in BMJ Open.Results:A total of 1768 study records were identified by electronic database searching and loaded to the systematic review management software Covidence.After removal of duplicates, 1744 were independently screened based on title and abstract by two authors 15th European Public Health Conference 2022