Students’ knowledge of bronchial asthma: ASSA-1 and ASSA-2 results comparison

The Aim: of study is to assess the dynamics of medical undergraduates’ knowledge of bronchial asthma (BA) basics. Materials and Methods: Following up our multicenter research ASSA-1 (‘14-‘15, 7 cities, 521 medical majors), we started ASSA-2 project in 2017. Currently, we obtained the results from 249 undergraduates tested in 8 Russian and Ukrainian centers. The knowledge of BA basics such as definition, pathogenesis, diagnostics and treatment was evaluated by applying the 12 single-choice questions survey. Results: The average level of correct answers in both groups (ASSA-1 and ASSA-2) was not significantly increased (74.0%-72.6%), and varied from 56.8%-49.2% to 93.9%-90.0% in different questions. The most difficult questions were still related to exact BA definition in both groups (ASSA-1 and ASSA-2) 56.8%-49.2%, p The groups did not demonstrate any significant dynamics in the following questions: pathogenesis (70.8%-66.3%), instrumental and laboratory markers (65.6%-65.7%), main diagnosis methods (85.6%-87.6%), severity levels (80.6%-77.1%), self-control over BA (74.5%-71.9%), status asthmaticus definition (93.9%-90.0%), asthma attack therapy (78.9%-77.7%), fixed combination drugs (61.4%-60.2%). The knowledge of BA baseline therapy had significantly increased among ASSA-2 group in comparison to ASSA-1 (75.9%-64.5%, p Conclusion: It was revealed that despite the availability of plenty training and scientific literature in the area of bronchial asthma, the level of knowledge remains unsatisfactory. Thus, BA subject should be studied more thoroughly in higher schools.