Assessment of Knowledge, Belief, and Practices Regarding Cirrhosis among the Students of the University of Lahore

Abstract

Cirrhosis is a liver injury, which leads to portal hypertension, hepatic encephalopathy, ascites, and end-stage liver disease. The study aimed to explore how much students know about liver cirrhosis and its complexity. The crosssectional study was conducted on university students in the year 2020. A selfstructured questionnaire was used in this study. It was divided into three portions, i.e., knowledge-related questions, belief-related questions and practice-related questions. Fifty-eight studentsparticipated in this study. 34.3% of students knew about the term cirrhosis, 55.2% knew about the causes of cirrhosis, 7.1% were not aware of its complications, 62.1% of students knew that dysphagia is the leading cause of malnutrition in cirrhosis, and 44.8% knew that hepatic encephalopathy leads to coma. Additionally, 46.6% believed that end-stage liver disease and cirrhosis are the same, and 77.6% believed that jaundice leads to liver disease. Furthermore, 36.2% had previously participated in a nutrition education program related to hepatic diseases, and 24.1% recommended Child-Pugh score to cirrhotic patients to assess liver function. Conclusively, some students had necessary information on liver cirrhosis, whereas some did not know about it. Moreover, the practices of the students were not according to the knowledge they had. As a health professional, the students who do not know cirrhosis well will inefficiently deal with the patients suffering from cirrhosis.