Assessing Alzheimer's disease knowledge among Egyptian medical students in the context of recent educational reforms

Medical students are the future doctors and play an essential role in the management of health issues. Their understanding of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is not only required but also necessary to provide the best possible care to patients. The present study aimed to assess medical students' knowledge about AD within the context of the recent reform of the Egyptian medical educational system, which switched to competency-based instead of outcome-based education since 2017.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students in public and private Egyptian medical schools. Between August and November 2024, an anonymous self-administered questionnaire was uploaded to Google Forms and distributed online through commonly used social media platforms. The Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS), a validated and reliable tool, was used for the measurement of AD-related knowledge. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine the factors associated with having good or poor knowledge about AD among participants.

In total, 1100 medical students were included through convenience and snowball sampling methods; their mean age was 20.9 ± 1.9 years, 55.5% were males, 59.6% were in their clinical years, and 15.6% had a positive family history of AD. The students' mean knowledge score was 19.10 ± 2.96 out of 30, representing 63.7% of answers correct, with a range of scores between 9 and 29. About 70.8% of the sample had good knowledge. The highest percentage of correct answers was for the treatment and management domain (76.5%), while the lowest percentage was for the caregiving domain (52.2%). Predictors of good knowledge were females [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.33 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01-1.76, p = 0.043], attending a public university [aOR = 1.62 (95% CI: 1.09-2.41), p = 0.015), clinical year students [aOR = 1.53 (95% CI: 1.07-2.16), p = 0.018], living in an urban area [(aOR = 1.67 (95% CI: 1.23-2.25), p < 0.001], and having higher family monthly income [aOR = 1.75 (95% CI: 1.13-2.72), p = 0.012].

The study highlights gaps in Egyptian medical students' knowledge of AD. Knowledge gaps were found in domains of caregiving and risk factors, urging educators and policymakers to enhance curricula, particularly preclinical curricula, with a specific focus on some socio-economic determinants.