A249 KNOWLEDGE OF JORDANIAN MEDICAL STUDENTS ABOUT PROBIOTICS AND THEIR HEALTH USAGE

Abstract Background The clinical uses of probiotics are increasing. Medical students are the future physicians. Their knowledge and attitude toward probiotics will dictate the extent of probiotics` prescription.. Aims The present study was conducted to assess the knowledge of medical students at clinical years at Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan about probiotics and their attitude Methods A self-administered, anonymous questionnaire was made available to all medical students at their clinical years (4th, 5th and 6th years), and asked to fill it either printed or online. Personal and sociodemographic data was collected, in addition to the three parts covering; the knowledge of the students on probiotics, clinical usage and availabilities, the students` attitude toward probiotics and final part investigate the source of information and whether probiotics included in their college curriculum or not. The responses were presented as averages and compared according to gender and life-style using Pearson’s Chi-square test. Results 272 (15%) students filled the questionnaires. 144 (52.9%) were females. Mean age ± SD of participants was 22.93 ± 1.13 years. 140 (51.5%) described their life-styles as healthy. More than half of the students knew the true definition of probiotics, its sources and could identify at least two usages for probiotics. There was no statistical difference between males and females with p-value 0.728, 0.180 and 0.150 respectively. Although most of the students (225, 82.3%) recognize the probiotics mechanisms of action, only 115 students (42.2%) knew that probiotics` effects are strain specific and can`t be generalized. Majority of the students (244, 89.7%) showed positive attitude toward probiotics use and (252, 92.6%) showed interest in learning more about the features of probiotics and its clinical benefits. This was not affected by the described life-style (p-value 0.196). Conclusions Jordanian Medical students had acceptable level of knowledge about probiotics and their health effects. Incorporating probiotics in the educational curriculum of the medical students will boost their knowledge which will be reflected on probiotics` prescribing practice in the future. Funding Agencies None