How Stigma Affects Asian Americans Living with Hepatitis B

Asian Americans make up only 6% of the U.S. population, but they account for more than 60% of Americans with hepatitis B. Hepatitis B (HBV) is a virus that infects the liver, and while some people recover from the infection, others may develop liver failure or cancer. HBV is transmitted through blood, semen, or other bodily fluids, but it can also be passed from mother to child during childbirth, which is how the majority of Asian Americans contract the disease.

Until 2010, laws in China allowed discrimination against people with HBV, preventing adults from working and children from going to school. Although these policies are now illegal, stigma against the disease persists in both China and the US.

Thomas Jefferson University researcher Hee-Soon Juon, MSN, Ph.D., has been working with Asian American communities to research and raise awareness of HBV since the early 2000s. In a new study published in The Journal of Viral Hepatitisshe and her research team are investigating how the stigma surrounding HBV affects people with this condition.

The study surveyed 365 Korean Americans with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) to see how stigma against HBV affected them. Participants answered questions about their physical health, mental health, and whether they thought they had experienced racial discrimination.

Dr. Juon found that people who felt more stigmatized were more likely to report worse depression and physical health, and that more knowledge about the illness did not necessarily mean they felt less judged for their condition. Perceived racial discrimination was also linked to feelings of stigma and depression.

“We confirmed that stigma has a major impact on a CHB patient,” says Dr. Juon. “This can impact their treatment pathway.”

In reality, past research has shown that stigma against a disease can prevent people from seeking care, cause mental distress, or lead to explicit discrimination. Dr. Juon says the next steps in this research will be to develop interventions that can help combat stigma for people with HBV.