Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Towards Gut Microbiota Among Undergraduate Students of Health Sciences in a Tertiary Care Center, Tamil Nadu.

Introduction Gut health roughly entails all factors that sustain the normal physiology of the gastrointestinal system. Factors like food habits, extensive antibiotic misuse have profound effects on the compositional balance of gut microbiota, thereby compromising its beneficial effects on gut health. The interplay of these factors has certainly placed the younger generation at risk of developing non-communicable diseases. Objectives To assess the knowledge of undergraduate health science students by the Microbiota Awareness Scale, and attitude and practices of health science students regarding gut microbiota and their significance with course of study. Methodology Our study was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Knowledge, attitude and practices towards gut microbiota were collected by a questionnaire using Google Forms from all participants. The questionnaire contained demographic details like age, gender, course and year of study and questions regarding knowledge, attitude and practices towards gut health. Knowledge was assessed using a prevalidated Microbiota Awareness Scale; attitude and practices using a validated self-structured questionnaire. Data were entered in an Excel sheet (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) and results were analyzed using SPSS software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results Our study had 902 participants who responded to the questionnaire which included 410 undergraduate medical students, 155 allied health science students of Karpagam Faculty of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and 337 nursing students of Karpagam Nursing College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Around half of the participants (n=463, 51.33%) had adequate knowledge and the remaining (n=439, 48.66%) participants had inadequate knowledge. Nearly half of the participants (n=449, 49.77%) had a positive attitude, 234 (25.94%) participants had a neutral attitude and the remaining 219 (24.27%) participants had a negative attitude towards probiotics and prebiotics. Four hundred ninety-seven (55.09%) participants engage in practices that support a good gut microbiota, 267 (29.60%) participants engage in habits that neither benefit nor harm their gut microbiota and 138 (15.29%) participants engage in habits that negatively impact their gut microbiota. Conclusion Half of the surveyed population had adequate understanding of gut microbiota and the remaining participants had inadequate knowledge on gut microbiota. Almost the same proportion of participants who had adequate knowledge also have positive attitudes and hence exhibit behaviors that support good gut health. This study emphasizes that bridging the knowledge gap would promote better attitudes and practices towards factors that influence gut microbiota and instigate a change in behavioral patterns towards gut health preservation.