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Fertility awareness among medical and non-medical students: a case-control study.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: To compare the understanding and perceptions of fertility issues among medical and non-medical University students. METHODS: In a prospective case-control study, using a 43 item questionnaire with 5 sections and 43 questions regarding personal data (8 questions), lifestyle factors (9 questions), plans on having children (5 questions), age and fertility (5 questions), and lifestyle and fertility (16 questions), knowledge of fertility and influencing factors, desired age at commencement and completion of childbearing, among male and female medical and non-medical students in their first academic year at Vienna University, Vienna, Austria were evaluated. RESULTS: 340 students were included. 262/340 (77%) participants planned to have children in the future. Medical students (n?=?170) planned to have fewer and later children and had a higher awareness of the impact of age on fertility than non-medical students (n?=?170; estimated knowledge probability 0.55 [medical students] vs. 0.47 [non-medical students]; F (1, 336)?=?5.18 and p?=?.024 (? p?=?.015). Gender did not independently affect estimated knowledge probability (F (1, 336)?=?1.50 and p?=?.221). More female and male medical students had a positive attitude towards Assisted Reproductive Technology in case of infertility than non-medical students (47 and 55% vs. 23 and 29%, respectively; p?=?<.001). Medical students had a healthier lifestyle than non-medical students. A healthy lifestyle and female gender were associated with higher fertility awareness. CONCLUSIONS: Medical students have a higher awareness of fertility issues than non-medical students. Choice of academic study, gender, and personal life style are important factors affecting fertility awareness. These data may be helpful to address knowledge gaps among young non-medical Academics.

SUBMITTER: Nouri K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4182859 | biostudies-other | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Fertility awareness among medical and non-medical students: a case-control study.

Nouri Kazem K Huber Dagmar D Walch Katharina K Promberger Regina R Buerkle Bernd B Ott Johannes J Tempfer Clemens B CB

Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E 20140926

<h4>Background</h4>To compare the understanding and perceptions of fertility issues among medical and non-medical University students.<h4>Methods</h4>In a prospective case-control study, using a 43 item questionnaire with 5 sections and 43 questions regarding personal data (8 questions), lifestyle factors (9 questions), plans on having children (5 questions), age and fertility (5 questions), and lifestyle and fertility (16 questions), knowledge of fertility and influencing factors, desired age a ...[more]

PMID: 25260495

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Project description:The falling fertility indicators and high prevalence of infertility in Poland make it important for people of reproductive age to have good knowledge of their own fertility in order to be able to take care of their reproductive health. This paper examines reproductive health literacy and fertility awareness among Polish female students. It can help identify gaps in reproductive health education in Poland. The study group included 456 women aged 18-29, who were students of 6 public universities located in Poznan, Poland. The method used was a survey using a self-developed questionnaire assessing the students' knowledge of female and male fertility-related physiology and fertility patterns. The respondents' knowledge was assessed on the basis of the percentage of correct answers. Regression analysis and univariate analysis of variance were used to explore relationships between the students' knowledge and their age, year of study, university and source(s) of information. The average score of correct answers was 55.8%. Older students and medical university students were the most knowledgeable. 93.4% of the respondents correctly identified the optimum age for a woman to have the first child from the point of view of achieving pregnancy fast. Over 90% of the respondents knew such fertility-compromising risks as smoking, diseases and psychological distress. There was much poorer awareness of the adverse effect of unbalanced diet, irregular sleep, and long-lasting physical effort. 47.1% of the students reported gaining information from a number of sources, but as many as 28.3% said their only source was primary or middle school classes. Reproductive health knowledge among the young female students is incomplete, especially as regards lifestyle-related risks. They should be encouraged to supplement it by consulting reliable sources such as health professionals. It is advisable to ensure that the curricula of medical university students provide thorough knowledge in this area, and to arrange suitable electives for students from other universities. As primary and secondary school classes remain an important source of information, quality teaching at these levels should be offered with a focus on making the knowledge as practical and operational as possible. Relevant graduate, postgraduate and in-service courses should be available to professionals responsible for spreading reproductive health knowledge.

Project description:BackgroundGaming is a billion-dollar industry that is expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 9% to 14.3%, with the biggest market in Southeast Asian countries. The availability of low-cost smartphones and the ease at which the internet can be accessed have made gaming popular among youth, who enjoy it as a leisure activity. According to the World Health Organization, excessive indulgence in gaming can lead to gaming disorder. Medical students indulging in excessive gaming can succumb to gaming disorder, which can affect their scholastic performance.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the association between gaming practices and scholastic performance among medical students.Methods This study used a case-control design, where 448 medical undergraduate students (first year to prefinal) were preliminarily surveyed using universal sampling on their gaming practices in the last 6 months. Out of this sample, the 91 participants who admitted to gaming in the past 6 months were recruited as cases, while participants who never engaged in gaming in the last 6 months were recruited as controls. Both the cases and controls were matched for age and gender in a 1:1 ratio. The internal assessment scores (based on 2 midterms completed in the last 6 months) of cases and controls were compared. The Snedecor F test was used to determine the association between the number of hours spent gaming and internal assessment scores (%), while the Student t test was used to determine significant differences between the internal assessment scores of cases and controls. Odds ratios were calculated to identify the risk of poor scholastic performance among cases compared to the controls. The prevalence of gaming disorder among cases was assessed using the Gaming Addiction Scale (GAS).ResultsThe frequency of gaming (in hours) was not associated with mean internal assessment scores (P=.13). Male cases reported significantly lower internal assessment scores compared to male controls (P=.005 vs P=.01), whereas no significant differences were observed between the internal assessment scores of female cases and controls (P=.89 vs P=.59). A negative correlation was observed between GAS scores and internal assessment scores (r=-0.02). The prevalence of gaming disorder using the GAS was observed to be 6.3% (28/448) in the study population and 31% (28/91) among cases. The risk of low scores (<50%) among gamers was observed to be 1.9 (95% CI 1.04-3.44, P=.03) times higher in the first midterm and 1.80 (95% CI 0.97-3.36, P=.06) times higher in the second midterm compared to nongamers.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that excessive gaming adversely affects the scholastic performance of male participants more than female participants. Awareness about gaming disorder needs to be created among students, parents, and teachers. Treatment services should be made available to medical students with gaming disorders.

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Dataset Information

Fertility awareness among medical and non-medical students: a case-control study.

Publications

Fertility awareness among medical and non-medical students: a case-control study.

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