Knowledge and Attitude towards Genetic Diseases and Genetic Testing among Undergraduate Medical Students

Genetic testing of newly diagnosed patients with rare hereditary disorders is said to improve early family detection, allow patients to receive disease-specific treatment when available. A deficiency in knowledge of genetic testing has been reported among populations as well as health practitioners in developed and developing nations. We conducted this cross-sectional study to determine the awareness, knowledge and attitude about genetic diseases and genetic testing among clinical year medical students of private medical college in Malaysia. The data was collected by distributing questionnaires in electronic version and a total of 119 students were recruited. The data was analysed by using Epi Info version 7.2.5 and SPSS version 12. Independent t-test, one way ANOVA and linear regression were calculated. Among the students, 43.7% of the student had good knowledge towards genetic diseases and genetic testing while 56.3% had poor knowledge among the students. 31.1% of the participants had good attitude and 68.9% had poor attitude towards genetic diseases and genetic testing. Presence of family members suffering from genetic disease, and awareness of genetic testing and counselling have shown to have significant association with knowledge towards genetic diseases and genetic testing. However, there were no significant association between demographic variables and attitude towards genetic diseases and genetic testing. There was a significant positive association between knowledge and attitude towards genetic diseases and genetic testing (b=0.042, P=0.004). The knowledge and attitude towards genetic diseases and genetic testing among undergraduate medical students were not up to optimal level. Thus, medical schools and their curriculum play a role in improving the knowledge and attitude about genetic diseases and genetic testing, and greater emphasis is needed on courses related to this topic.