Knowledge about Rheumatoid Arthritis among Senior Undergraduate Medical Students of a Medical College in South India

Abstract

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common form of autoimmune inflammatory arthritis with an Indian prevalence of around 0.75%. Nearly 55% of Indians resort to primary health-care centers as their first point of contact. MBBS students must be well equipped to diagnose and treat patients with RA within the community and refer the relevant cases appropriately to higher medical facilities. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted assessing the basic knowledge of RA in senior medical undergraduate students in two domains. The first domain included assessment, clinical features, and diagnosis of RA while the second domain included treatment, radiological features, and therapeutics of RA. The total score was summed up for each domain. Self-assessment of knowledge was also inquired. The questionnaire was validated after a pilot study. The analysis was done using SPSS software using Pearson’s Chi-square test for correlation and paired t-test for comparison with basic descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 142 students participated, classified by year of study. There were 69% of female respondents. The mean self-assessment value was 4.82 ± 1.944, and the mean score in the questionnaire was 7.27 ± 2.183. The mean score out of 9 for Domain A was 5.09 ± 1.63 and for Domain B out of 4 was 2.17 ± 0.977. Students performed better in Domain B. A significant association was found between final assessment score and year of study (P < 0.01) as well as self-assessment and year of study (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Participants had less confidence in themselves as compared to how they performed. Female students performed better. Awareness about Domain B was higher, and senior students performed better.