Knowledge attitudes and practices toward tuberculosis prevention among undergraduate students in Bangkok, Thailand: a cross-sectional study

Tuberculosis (TB) is still a significant global public health concern, particularly in resource-limited countries. Even WHO set the targets of the End tuberculosis (TB) by 2030, the global trend in TB case incidence becomes increase including in Southeast Asian region. The newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients are highly reported in 15-24 age group. Understanding the knowledge and attitudes on TB and preventive practice of the population at risk is crucial for developing health education intervention to prevent the disease transmission. This study was a cross-sectional study. Data were collected from 424 undergraduate students aged 18-24 years at five universities (including public and private universities) in Bangkok, Thailand. An online structured questionnaire covering socio-demographic characteristics, TB-related knowledge, attitudes and preventive measures was used in data collection. Chi-square was used to analyze the factors associated with preventive practices. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.Among 424 undergraduate students, majority of them (67.7%) are female. More than half of them is studying in first- and second year of study. More than 70% of the students had poor knowledge and moderate attitude regarding TB. For preventive practice, 64.1% and 29.5% of them had moderate and high level, respectively. There was no significant association between socio-demographic characteristics of the students and TB prevention. A significant association was found between the knowledge level and TB prevention (p = 0.004). Having better knowledge was more likely to have better TB prevention. However, there is no significant association found between attitude (p = 0.220) and those of preventive practice against TB.Based on the insufficient knowledge and attitudes toward TB of these undergraduates, targeted educational interventions need to be implemented among them to improve tuberculosis prevention in this population even they continue use the common preventive measure after COVID 19 pandemic.