Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Antibiotic Use and Antibiotic Resistance among the Students of Private Universities in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Background and Objectives: Antibiotic resistance has become a global encumbrance in the field of medicine. Various factors like antibiotic abuse, overuse or irrational usage of antibiotics, over the counter availability of antibiotics etc., have been put forth as accused leading to antibiotic resistance. The present study aims at evaluating the knowledge, attitude and practice of antibiotic usage and antibiotic resistance among undergraduate students in private universities in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Methodology: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based quantitative survey conducted among undergraduate students in private universities in Dhaka, Bangladesh including 1st year to 4th year from different academic background. The questionnaire comprised of: Demographic data; Knowledge including 17 questions; Attitudes including 16 questions and practices consisting of 8 questions. Majority of the questions were dichotomous (Yes/No type) and some questions were asked using five point Likert scale. SPSS version 22.0 software were used in order to analyze data obtained from respondent’s. Association among categorical variable were analyzed with Analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post hoc Bonferroni test. Responses were presented using descriptive analysis, with chi-square tests to identify factors associated with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice about antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance and the Spearman’s rank order correlation coefficient calculated to examine the relationship between responses to the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice questions.

Results: Total number of students from 1st year to 4th year were 244 who had given voluntary consent and participated in this study willingly. The sample comprised more males (56%) than females (44%), the average age of respondents was 21.9±1.5 years and almost 60% of respondents were from allied health science (Pharmacy, Microbiology, Public health, Botany, Zoology, Biotechnology, Biochemistry etc) background. Respondents had relatively good knowledge about aspects of antibiotic use and antibiotic role other than perception on antibiotic resistance. The concept of antibiotic resistance was well familiar but imperfectly understood.

Statistically significant (p=0.03) results have been obtained for the correct responses of knowledge questionnaire. Spearman rank order correlation revealed a positive association between each pair of the knowledge, attitude and practice scores for respondents (p = < 0.05). The correlation was good between knowledge-attitudes and attitudes-practices and fair between knowledge-practices.

Conclusion: The study provides baseline evidence about the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance among the undergraduate students in private universities in Dhaka, Bangladesh including 1st year to 4th year from different academic background. The findings of the study will be useful in designing effective and targeted interventions to decrease misconceptions about antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance and to increase awareness about the risks of overuse or inappropriate use of antibiotics.