Questionnaire survey on hepatitis virus tests among ophthalmologists in Japan

We performed a questionnaire survey among ophthalmologists on how they handle the results of viral hepatitis tests. Of 307 responses (28.6% of sent questionnaires), 80.1% were analyzed, which were from the ophthalmologists who order viral hepatitis tests. To hepatitis test-positive patients, 69.4% of the ophthalmologists responded “inform always,” but to test-negative patients, 68.3% answered “don’t inform.” The younger ophthalmologists significantly more often replied “don’t inform.” Ophthalmologists who answered “consult hepatologists” were only 7.6% and 37.1% for test-positive patients with primary-care physicians and those without, respectively. Ophthalmologists who responded “consult hepatologists” are significantly fewer among those working at clinics. As reasons for the difficulty of the consultation, 64.6% and 43.1% answered “ patients are visiting primary-care physicians ” and “which hepatologist to consult is uncertain,” respectively.