Assessment of knowledge and practice of internal medicine postgraduate students and patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) regarding the association of oral health with CKD in Isfahan, Iran, in 2018

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: This study was conducted with the aim to evaluate the knowledge and practice of internal medicine postgraduate students and patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). METHODS: To measure the knowledge and practice of internal medicine postgraduate students and patients with CKD, 2 validated and reliable questionnaires were used. Each questionnaire included the 3 sections of demographic characteristics form, knowledge measurement, and performance assessment. The questionnaires were distributed among 50 internal medicine postgraduate students of Alzahra Hospital and 150 patients with CKD at Alzahra and Hojatieh Hospitals who were selected randomly. The mean scores of knowledge and practice were extracted from the responses provided in the questionnaires. Knowledge and performance of individuals in each questionnaire were quantified and based on this, the average score of knowledge and performance of individuals was calculated. Data analysis was carried out in SPSS software using the Pearson correlation coefficient, Spearman's correlation coefficient, and independent t-test. RESULTS: The mean score of knowledge and practice of the postgraduate students were 65.1 +/- 16.02 and 39.8 +/- 16.9, respectively. Furthermore, of the 150 patients with CKD with a mean age of 52.7 +/- 16.8 years, 56.2 were men and 45.3 had primary education. The patients' mean score of knowledge regarding the association of CKD and oral health was 45.1 +/- 18.8 and that of their practice was 44.04 +/- 20.8 out of 100. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study indicated that internal medicine postgraduate students and patients with CKD had moderate level of knowledge and performance with regard to the association of oral health with CKD. Moreover, the results showed no significant relationship between the internal medicine postgraduate students' knowledge and age, year of residency, and clinical experience, but there was a significant reverse association between the postgraduate students' knowledge and the number of patients with CKD they visited during a week.