Medical students' knowledge and awareness of microbiota

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess medical students' knowledge and awareness of microbiota. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. A questionnaire was administered to medical students between October 2022 and February 2023. In the first part of the questionnaire, sociodemographic information and probiotic definition, receiving education, recommending to the environment, pre/probiotic use status, pre/probiotic information sources consisted of 12 questions. In the second part, the Microbiota Awareness Scale (MAS) was used. RESULTS: A total of 708 students participated in the study. The mean age was 21.3±2.0 years and 57.9% were female. 85% of the students reported that their knowledge about probiotics was insufficient, 93.2% reported that they had received no education about probiotics, 81.8% reported that they did not use probiotics, and 55.5% reported that they did not recommend probiotic-containing products to their environment. The mean MAS score was 68.7±9.1. The mean total score of the MAS was significantly higher in women, 3rd-semester students, those who considered their knowledge about probiotics sufficient, those who used probiotics, those who recommended probiotic-containing products, and those who knew the definition of probiotics (p<0.001). Those who did not use probiotics had insufficient knowledge about probiotics (p<0.001) and had not received education about probiotics (p=0.001). Probiotic users recommended probiotic-containing products to those around them (p<0.001) and knew the definition of probiotics (p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, although medical students had moderate knowledge about microbiota and pre/probiotics, the rate of probiotic use and education about probiotics was low. Incorporating probiotics more widely into the medical school curriculum and organizing training sessions will help improve the knowledge of students who will be future physicians.