Knowledge and Awareness of Thalassemia Carrier Screening among Thai Medical Students

Introduction: Thalassemia is the most common hereditary hemolytic anemia in Southeast Asia, including Thailand. Despite thalassemia screening tests being currently performed in all Thai pregnant women, this approach can sometimes be too late. Prevention would be improved if we could perform thalassemia screening tests prior to pregnancy. Objectives: Assess the knowledge and awareness of thalassemia screening in medical students. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey among Thai medical students in 16 universities, during April 2022- May 2023, by using a valid set of research questions in the online-based questionnaire to assess their knowledge and awareness of carrier screening tests and intention to test themselves. Results: Five hundred fifty-three medical students (481 in the preclinic group and 72 in the clinic group) participated in this survey. The mean knowledge score for the first year was 2.89 and their mean scores significantly increased by an average of 0.25 [95%CI: 0.17, 0.33] points for every additional year from the first to sixth year (p-value < 0.001). The awareness scores demonstrated no correlation with the knowledge scores (Spearman's rho = 0.06), however, they were significantly correlated with medical students' intention to ascertain if they were thalassemia carriers themselves, with the p-value of 0.001. Conclusions: Thalassemia is a major disease in Thailand; it is essential that all Thai doctors and future doctors (medical students) have a strong knowledge base and awareness of its treatment and prevention, especially thalassemia screening.