Understanding Hepatitis: An Introduction for Patients and Caregivers

Book Title: Understanding Hepatitis: An Introduction for Patients and Caregivers

Book Author: Naheed Ali

Publication Information: Lanham, MD, The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2018, 175 pp., $34.00, hardcover

When a patient receives a diagnosis of hepatitis, it can be initially met as a nebulous term offering no clear understanding of the specific processes and implications of the condition. In an effort to provide clarity in these moments, Naheed Ali, MD, a Harvard-educated physician with additional training in holistic medicine, wrote Understanding Hepatitis: An Introduction For Patients and Caregivers. This is another book in Dr Ali’s Understanding series, where he attempts to provide comprehensible background information and clinical explanations for patients and their personal circles, for a number of today’s common medical diagnoses.

While the mechanisms of hepatitis can be difficult to understand for even a seasoned physician, Dr Ali makes it clear in his first sentence that “this book is not meant for medical professionals.” Instead, the aim of this book is to tackle hepatitis for the medical layperson. As the title summarizes, it provides a comprehensive approach to understanding hepatitis (A through E), and it is split into multiple sections in an effort to make a difficult topic easier to process.

The book initially approaches hepatitis by laying down a foundation in liver anatomy, physiology, and general importance via its role in human body homeostasis. An interesting detour into the history of hepatitis (as well as medicine in general) is provided to add levity to a section of the book heavy in details that might give physicians flashbacks to the joys of medical school’s preclinical years. After another brief section on hepatitis’ global epidemiology and its public health effect, a significant portion of the book is spent on the clinical manifestations of the disease processes. Dr Ali has done a fine job laying these sections out in a comprehensible order, moving from pathology, to risk factors, then on to screening/diagnosis, clinical sequelae, and eventually to treatment modalities.

Toward the end of the book, Dr Ali includes extremely high-yield topics: areas of discussion that may not be addressed during the average visit to the physician’s office, but which can improve understanding of, and coping with a hepatitis diagnosis. These topics include exercise for hepatitis patients, mental aspects of a hepatitis-diagnosed patient, and patience when dealing with hepatitis. I cannot recall previously finding a passage in a medically-themed book imploring me that, “...the person who has patience can easily handle upcoming unhappy situations. Rome was not built in a day, and hepatitis does not kill instantly.” Dr Ali’s voice is can be found in these moments, as he speaks specifically to patients, their family members, and friends. The opportunity to have this patient-centered aspect of coping with the disease is unique and important.

The author puts forth a commendable effort in making both the more insipid details and intricacies of hepatitis understandable to the book’s target audience, yet the target reading comprehension level for medical literature for patient populations is generally recommended to be the fifth-grade level,¹ and this book’s materials often exceed what one would expect of this level of reader. Dr Ali is cognisant of the book’s inherent challenge of explaining hepatitis to patients—he provides a disclaimer early on that “the non-medical reader may encounter advanced medical terminology through the writing” that will make comprehension challenging at times. While this notice to his readers is admirable, it does not excuse some of the material from a level that will be out of reach for many readers.

Conversely, there are some brief sections of the book that do not require the level of explanation the author provides; these would include a paragraph on “A Typical Day For a Primary Care Physician,” and a section explaining and elaborating on the initial point that “Hospitals are healthcare facilities.”

Explaining the many nuances of a diagnosis of a disease as complicated as hepatitis to patients can be a Herculean task to say the least; with Understanding Hepatitis, Dr Naheed Ali provides a comprehensive resource to these patients and those who will join them on their journey toward evaluation and treatment. This book provides the target audience with easy-to-understand facts and recommendations, as well as lifestyle suggestions that are clearly influenced by Dr Ali’s holistic background, and are truly patient-centered.