Knowledge and attitudes towards thalassemia among university students in Bangladesh

BackgroundThalassemia is the most common congenital single-gene condition. It is marked by a lack of or reduced synthesis of either the alpha- or beta-globin chains and passed down from parents to offspring. This study aimed to determine how healthy students in Bangladeshi public universities were aware of thalassemia and how they felt about it. MethodsA cross-sectional descriptive online survey was conducted on public university students in Bangladesh using a structured questionnaire between June and November 2020. Students completed structured questionnaires consisting of three sections: demographic information, ten multiple-choice knowledge questions rated on a scale of 0 to 10, and ten attitude questions. The data were analyzed using Python. Descriptive statistics methods such as frequencies and percentages were used to present data. ResultsA total of 681 students participated in the online survey. The average age of the respondents in this study was 21.97 years, with a standard deviation of 2.9. Most of the students, 611(89.72%), had heard about thalassemia. Only 248 (36.42%) of the students had a fair understanding of thalassemia, with 138 (22.62%) being male and 110 (18.03%) being female (P-value = 0.0819). Students knowledge level did not differ significantly by gender (P-value = 0.0819), marital status (P-value = 0.2281), or academic year (P-value = 0.4619), but there was a substantial variation by field of study (0.0042). However, 478 (78.36%) participants showed a positive attitude toward "Premarital Screening" to prevent thalassemia. ConclusionsIn Bangladesh, where the rate of family marriage is high, it is recommended that university students and the general public engage in long-term, goal-oriented prevention measures. These initiatives would provide crucial information and increase peoples awareness of thalassemia when married and after becoming parents, reducing the impacts of illnesses.