Relationship between knowledge, attitude, and practice of COVID-19 precautionary measures and the frequency of infection among medical students at an Egyptian University.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Medical undergraduates are at high risk of COVID-19 infection. Thus, conformance to healthy practices is advised to reduce disease transmission and control the current epidemic. The present study aimed to explore the relationship of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) related to COVID-19 precautionary measures with the frequency of infection among medical students at an Egyptian University. METHODS: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on 404 undergraduate medical students from different grades using a web-based self-administered anonymous questionnaire. RESULTS: More than one-third of medical students (37.4%) were previously infected with COVID-19, where the majority (60.5%) were diagnosed with relevant signs and symptoms. Medical students with low levels of KAP experienced higher frequencies of infection than did other students. A statistically significant negative correlation was observed between the number of previous COVID-19 infections among medical students and their knowledge and attitude scores toward COVID-19. In addition, a statistically significant positive correlation was noted among KAP scores (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Improving the knowledge, attitude, and conformance of medical students to precautionary measures toward COVID-19 may substantially reduce the risk and frequency of infection and, hence, reduce community transmission.