Abstract
Background: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the commonest cause of valvular heart disease in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). The low cardiologist to patient ratio leaves a big challenge of RHD prevention and management to general practitioners in Cameroon. This makes it important to assess the aptitude of senior medical students who are doctors-to-be on RHD. This could thus give a base on which to increase awareness and decrease the burden of the disease. Therefore, we sort to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of senior medical students on rheumatic heart disease. General objective: To determine the level of knowledge, attitudes on rheumatic heart disease, and assess practices towards RHD and its prevention. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in four medical schools in Cameroon for a period of 3 months (from January 1st to April 1st, 2019). The senior medical students were recruited using a structured self-administered questionnaire and electronic forms. Data were entered into an excel spreadsheet and analysed with IBM SPSS version 25.0 for windows. The knowledge level was divided into tertiles (poor, moderate and good) while the attitudes and practices were divided into poor or good. Association to KAP was evaluated and Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: In total, 509 senior medical students (6th and 7th year) were recruited. The mean age was 24.6 (SD ± 1.7) with 53.2% of students in the 19 to 24 years-old range. There were more females (51.7%) and level 6 students (50.1%). Most of the students had moderate knowledge (58.2%), with good attitudes and practices on rheumatic heart disease and its prevention. One-quarter of the students had good knowledge, attitudes, and practices on rheumatic heart disease. Lecture on RHD, history of sore throat and study in faculty of health science (FHS) was associated with good knowledge, attitudes, and practices on RHD. Conclusion: Despite having most of the senior medical students (6th and 7th years) in Cameroon with moderate to good knowledge of RHD, only a third has an above-average knowledge. There is a modest knowledge of RHD that could be used as an important foundation upon which to build RHD educational programs to expand awareness and understanding. Every 1 in 4 senior medical students have good knowledge, attitude and practice on RHD.
Highlights
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of premature death worldwide, with the highest occurrence reported in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) [1]
A prior history of sore throat was reported in 417 (81.9%) students, with 20 (3.9%) students who had been diagnosed with acute rheumatic fever and 3 (0.6%) diagnosed with Rheumatic heart disease
We report here that only 25% of medical students are adequately equipped in a combination of knowledge, attitudes and practices towards Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Cameroon by their sixth to the seventh year of studies
Summary
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of premature death worldwide, with the highest occurrence reported in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) [1]. Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is one of the most preventable causes of heart disease in children and young adults worldwide and the most common cardiovascular disease in people under 25 years of age [2] [3]. This makes it important to assess the aptitude of senior medical students who are doctors-to-be on RHD. We sort to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of senior medical students on rheumatic heart disease. General objective: To determine the level of knowledge, attitudes on rheumatic heart disease, and assess practices towards RHD and its prevention. Most of the students had moderate knowledge (58.2%), with good attitudes and practices on rheumatic heart disease and its prevention. One-quarter of the students had good knowledge, attitudes, and practices on rheumatic heart dis-
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