Gynecomastia: a study to assess how students perceive this disease

Background: Gynecomastia is a benign proliferation of the glandular male breast tissue. Gynecomastia etiology might be physiological or non-physiological such as medications, chronic diseases (e.g. hypogonadism), or steroid supplements. Aim: The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and understanding of gynecomastia among medical students and which resources were used to gain their understanding regarding the disease. Methods: Data for this qualitative, questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was collected on the basis of our own study objectives and from available questionnaires with similar objectives. The questionnaire was composed of 26 questions divided into many items that were recorded including sociodemographic data, gynecomastia symptoms, and holistic perception of the problem by the students. Exclusion criteria included those who refused to participate in the study and did not complete the questionnaire. Statistical tests were taken significant at p-value ≤0.05. All analyses were performed using SPSS, version 21. Results: A total of 200 medical students participated in this study, among them more males than females (64% vs. 36%). We observed that medical students had significantly more moderate knowledge with teachers as their source of information on gynecomastia (p=0.028) while with books (p=0.005) and internet (p=0.041) as their sources of information they had significantly more a higher level of knowledge. Conclusions: Medical students have overall insufficient knowledge about gynecomastia especially in physical examination and treatment aspects. Therefore, gynecomastia is to be considered more thoroughly in the curriculum.