Abstract

Despite the availability of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing in primary care, testing rates in China remain low. Social media is an inexpensive means of disseminating information and could facilitate hepatitis testing promotion. We evaluated the capacity of digitally crowdsourced materials to promote HBV/HCV testing uptake via a randomized controlled trial (identifier: ChiCTR1900025771), which enrolled 750 Chinese primary care patients. We randomized patients (1:1) to receive crowdsourced HBV/HCV promotion materials through social media or facility-based care without promotional materials for four weeks. Exposure to all intervention materials was associated with increased odds of HBV (aOR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.09–3.00) and HCV (aOR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.29–2.99) testing compared to facility-based care. There was a significant reduction in hepatitis stigma among intervention group participants (HBV slope: −0.15, p < 0.05; and HCV slope: −0.13, p < 0.05). Digitally crowdsourced promotion messages could enhance hepatitis testing uptake and should be considered in hepatitis reduction strategies.

Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1900025771) on September 9, 2019. Available from: http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=42788

Details

Title
A randomized controlled trial enhancing viral hepatitis testing in primary care via digital crowdsourced intervention
Author
Wong, William C. W. 1 ; Marley, Gifty 2 ; Li, Jingjing 3 ; Yan, Weihui 4 ; Chan, Po-lin 5 ; Tucker, Joseph D. 6 ; Tang, Weiming 7 ; Ni, Yuxin 8 ; Cheng, Dan Dan 4 ; Cong, Lou 4 ; Seto, Wai-Kay 9   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Department of Family Medicine & Primary Care, Shenzhen, China (GRID:grid.440671.0) (ISNI:0000 0004 5373 5131); The University of Hong Kong, Department of Family Medicine & Primary Care, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong (GRID:grid.194645.b) (ISNI:0000000121742757) 
2  2nd Floor of Lao Gan Building, Yuexiu District, The University of North Carolina Project-China, Global Health Center Office, Guangzhou, China (GRID:grid.194645.b); Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health (SESH), Guangzhou, China (GRID:grid.194645.b) 
3  Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health (SESH), Guangzhou, China (GRID:grid.194645.b) 
4  The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Department of Family Medicine & Primary Care, Shenzhen, China (GRID:grid.440671.0) (ISNI:0000 0004 5373 5131) 
5  World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, The Philippines (GRID:grid.440671.0) 
6  2nd Floor of Lao Gan Building, Yuexiu District, The University of North Carolina Project-China, Global Health Center Office, Guangzhou, China (GRID:grid.440671.0); University of North Carolina, Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases, Chapel Hill, USA (GRID:grid.410711.2) (ISNI:0000 0001 1034 1720); Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, LSHTM, London, UK (GRID:grid.8991.9) (ISNI:0000 0004 0425 469X) 
7  2nd Floor of Lao Gan Building, Yuexiu District, The University of North Carolina Project-China, Global Health Center Office, Guangzhou, China (GRID:grid.8991.9); University of North Carolina, Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases, Chapel Hill, USA (GRID:grid.410711.2) (ISNI:0000 0001 1034 1720); Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China (GRID:grid.413405.7) (ISNI:0000 0004 1808 0686) 
8  Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health (SESH), Guangzhou, China (GRID:grid.413405.7) 
9  The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Department of Medicine, Shenzhen, China (GRID:grid.440671.0) (ISNI:0000 0004 5373 5131); The University of Hong Kong, Department of Medicine and State Key Laboratory of Liver Research, Hong Kong, China (GRID:grid.194645.b) (ISNI:0000000121742757) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
Dec 2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
23986352
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-022-00645-2
ProQuest document ID
2691611059
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.