Comparison of physicians’ and medical students’ knowledge in the etiology, diagnosis and pathogenesis of COPD according to the final results of the ASCO-II project

Abstract

<b>Objective:</b> to compare the knowledge of doctors and medical students in the etiology, diagnosis and pathogenesis of COPD. <b>Materials and methods:</b> an original questionnaire was developed in accordance to the GOLD-17 manual, and 338 students and 421 physicians from 11 cities of Russia and Ukraine were surveyed in 2017-2019.&nbsp;In this work, 8 questions of the questionnaire are analyzed. <b>Results:</b> The average level of correct answers (LCA) for the entire questionnaire was 62.0% among students, and it was significantly higher among doctors (68.8%, p&lt;0.001).&nbsp;There were no significant difference (p &gt;0.05) in LCA on such issues: definition of COPD (49.2%_phys-49%_stud), COPD risk factors (87.8% - 83.1%), main COPD diagnostics methods (82.4% - 78.3%).&nbsp;LCA among doctors was reliably better on such questions:&nbsp; COPD pathogenesis (74.1% - 63.3%, p&lt;0.01), COPD sign (91.1% - 78.9%, p&lt;0.001), main laboratory and instrumental markers to diagnose COPD (78.1% - 70.0%, p&lt;0.05 ), severity types of bronchial obstruction (72.5% - 57.0%, p &lt;0.001), role of CAT and mMRC scales (15.1% - 9.4%, p&lt;0.05). <b>Conclusions:</b> There is a lack level of knowledge of senior students and doctors on the basic provisions about etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of COPD. It requires additional educational activities in this direction.