Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Medical Students Regarding Vitamin D

Background: Recent studies document inadequate awareness about vitamin D even among the doctors.

Objective: This research was organized to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of medical students who will be the future doctors then.

Methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional type of study, which has been carried out from August 2017 to January 2018 on 340 medical students of Rawalpindi Medical University, selected through systematic random sampling. A valid questionnaire (D-KAP-38) was taken from a study conducted in Tehran was used which consisted of 38 questions. Section A and B of the questionnaire consisted of general and nutritional knowledge questions while section C and D consisted of questions regarding attitude and practice. SPSS version 23 was utilized for analyzing data. Statistical significance was determined using Chi square test.

Results: Male and female participants were almost equal. Majority (57%) belonged to the age group 21-23 years. Moreover, majority (44%) had per month family income Rs.50,000 to 1 lac. About 54% students had good general knowledge with greater proportion (65.6%) in age group 24 years (p=0.7). About 47% students had good nutritional knowledge with higher percentage in males than females(p=0.01). About 33% participants had good attitude with higher proportion in females than males(p=0.01). Only 8.8% students had good practice with females being more practicing(p=0.00).

Conclusion: Findings show average knowledge and attitude and poor practice. This is quite alarming considering the fact that study population consists of medical students.