Awareness of screening thyroid tumors among medical students in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Thyroid tumours rates seem to be increasing in Saudi Arabia, The aims of this study were to assess the knowledge and attitude of medical students in Saudi Arabia about the importance of screening and early detection of thyroid tumors in asymptomatic individuals. Methodology: A cross-sectional observational survey study was carried out and 402 medical students from all colleges of medicine in Saudi Arabia were selected. A structured validated questionnaire which was distributed electronically via a link in google form was used to collect data. All data were analyzed using SPSS program version 22. Result: The overall awareness score of thyroid tumor screening was 77.1%. However, thyroid tumor screening knowledge was good among 18.4% while poor among 58.5% of students. Furthermore, attitude towards thyroid screening was good among 16.7% while poor among 36.5% of students. Moreover, knowledge and attitude were increased by high level of academic year (p = 0.001) while showing no difference by gender (p = 0.052). Conclusion: In this study, the overall knowledge and awareness of predisposing factors and thyroid cancer screening among medical students were relatively low to moderate. Further studies of large samples as well as addition of enough thyroid tumor screening training in the curricula of medical students are highly recommended.