Knowledge, attitude and practice towards areca nut use among medical student of Nagpur city

Abstract

Background: Areca nut is consumed by approximately 600 million people worldwide and is the fourth most common psychoactive substance used globally and also gaining popularity among younger populations. There is substantial evidence that areca nut is the sole factor for the causation of premalignant condition like oral submucous fibrosis, aggravating asthma, liver fibrosis, hypertension, etc., and has its deleterious effects on other system of the body as well. As the MBBS curriculum does not include the awareness regarding the detrimental effects of areca nut use, it becomes mandatory for people from health science fraternity including medical students to have knowledge and awareness regarding such harmful agents. Therefore, the study is planned to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice toward areca nut consumption among medical students. Aim: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice toward areca nut consumption among medical students of Nagpur city. Methodology: After getting approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee dated 22nd July2019, this cross-sectional study was carried out at VSPM DC and RC in collaboration with NKP SIMS Nagpur. The validated questionnaire was designed which comprised of 23 close-ended questions to asses about knowledge, attitude, and practice toward consumption of areca nut. The questionnaire was prepared on Google form which was then sent via e-mail among 200 medical students including interns and post-graduates willing to participate in the study and their responses were obtained by five-point Likert scale that ranges from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Results: There was a high percentage of unawareness regarding knowledge and attitude parameters and lack of practice of areca nut among medical students. Conclusion: There is need “to update” the knowledge and awareness among medical students regarding hazards of the areca nut use by conducting CME programs in order to provide better life quality to the patients.