Assessment of Students' Knowledge about Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components

Background and Objectives Despite the increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome among the youth, little is known about the knowledge of university students about this disease. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of students at Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS) about metabolic syndrome. Subjects and Methods A valid questionnaire was completed by 245 university students. The questions were divided into 4 sections: diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Correct answers received 1 score while incorrect ones received 0 score. The answers were presented as a percentage. All data were analyzed with SPSS27 software, and p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The students’ mean scores were obtained as follows: diabetes: 83.26±10.23, obesity: 89.72±10.45, blood pressure: 92.51±12.47, cholesterol: 86.66±20.33, and total score: 88.04±8.27. There was no significant difference between the two genders in terms of the mean total score and the sections of the questionnaire. A significant difference was observed between different educational levels in terms of mean total score (P<0.01), with the graduate students having the highest knowledge level. However, there was no significant difference between the educational levels regarding the knowledge score of obesity and cholesterol. There was a significant difference between the mean knowledge score in relation to the sections of the questionnaire and the total scores by faculty. The highest and the lowest total knowledge scores were related to the Faculty of Health and the School of Pharmacy, respectively. Conclusion Considering that a score of 81-100% is considered good knowledge, the results showed that AJUMS students had generally good knowledge about metabolic syndrome.