Clinico-Psychosocial Factors Predicting Hepatocellular Carcinoma Related Knowledge Among Patients with Chronic Liver Disease

Abstract

Regular clinical surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among high-risk patients could lead to early detection and cure. Patient’s knowledge and attitude are important to the uptake rate of this surveillance. This study is aimed at assessing the level of HCC-related knowledge among patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) who are at risk of HCC and determine predictors for poor knowledge. A cross-sectional study was conducted among inpatients with CLD at the Third People’s Hospital of Kunming in China. Questionnaires were used to measure patient’s sociodemographic characteristics, HCC-related knowledge, and patient-doctor-related psychometric factors. Factor analysis was performed to explore the underlying domains captured by the knowledge questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify independent predictors for each domain. Three common factors were derived from the exploratory factor analysis, namely, “Surveillance,” “Lifestyle,” and “Prognosis.” Patients with low educational background and a short period of having CLD were at a significantly low level of HCC-related knowledge of all three domains. On the other hand, surveillance and lifestyle but not prognosis, were associated with patient’s communication confidence with doctors. Over two-thirds of high-risk patients had low knowledge of HCC. Medical providers should pay more attention to low educational groups and newly diagnosed CLD patients.