do Nascimento Maria Clara Sales, Freitas Junior Luiz Ricardo Cerqueira, Freitas Isabel Carmen Fonseca, Avena Katia de Miranda, Andrade Bruno Bezerril
Medical College, Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health, Salvador, Brazil.
Medical College, Bahia State University, Salvador, Brazil.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2024 Dec 24;11:1512590. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1512590. eCollection 2024.
The prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remains alarming, especially among young people and college students, highlighting the vulnerability of this population. In the academic context, it is worth investigating whether medical students, despite their access to information, also engage in risky sexual behaviors.
The present study aims to describe the sexual behavior of Brazilian medical students, analyzing their level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS and other STIs, as well as examining potential correlations between this knowledge and risky behaviors.
This cross-sectional study was conducted with 193 medical students from a private institution in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, using a structured, anonymous, self-administered online questionnaire. The questionnaire was adapted from the Brazilian Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Survey and a survey on risk behavior and knowledge among university students. Knowledge about STIs and HIV/AIDS was classified as "good" (above 70% correct answers), "average" (50-70% correct answers), and "poor" (below 50% correct answers). The work has been approved by the institutional review board of Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health.
A total of 77.7% of the students exhibited risky sexual behavior, which was associated with the number of partners ( = 0.0001), engaging in sexual activity within the last 12 months ( = 0.001), lack of a steady partner ( = 0.001), not using condoms during the last sexual encounter with a steady partner ( = 0.0001), and the use of substances such as alcohol ( = 0.0001), marijuana ( = 0.0001), and cigarettes ( = 0.0001) during sexual activity. Most students demonstrated poor (49.2%) or average (48.7%) knowledge about STIs and HIV/AIDS, a pattern that persisted regardless of sexual behavior. Only not using condoms during sexual encounters with casual partners in the past 12 months ( = 0.021) was associated with low levels of knowledge.
The prevalence of risky sexual behaviors in this sample was high, as was the low level of knowledge about STIs. However, knowledge of STIs and HIV/AIDS does not appear to be the sole determinant of these behaviors.
性传播感染（STIs）的患病率仍然令人担忧，尤其是在年轻人和大学生中，这凸显了这一人群的易感性。在学术背景下，值得研究医学生尽管能够获取信息，但是否也会从事危险的性行为。
本研究旨在描述巴西医学生的性行为，分析他们对艾滋病毒/艾滋病和其他性传播感染的知识水平，并研究这些知识与危险行为之间的潜在相关性。
本横断面研究对来自巴西巴伊亚州萨尔瓦多一所私立机构的193名医学生进行，使用结构化、匿名、自我管理的在线问卷。该问卷改编自巴西知识、态度和行为调查以及一项关于大学生风险行为和知识的调查。对性传播感染和艾滋病毒/艾滋病的知识分为“良好”（正确答案高于70%）、“一般”（正确答案50 - 70%）和“较差”（正确答案低于50%）。该研究已获得巴伊亚医学院和公共卫生学院机构审查委员会的批准。
共有77.7%的学生表现出危险的性行为，这与性伴侣数量（P = 0.0001）、在过去12个月内有性行为（P = 0.001）、没有固定性伴侣（P = 0.001）、在与固定性伴侣的最后一次性接触中未使用避孕套（P = 0.0001）以及在性行为期间使用酒精（P = 0.0001）、大麻（P = 0.0001）和香烟（P = 0.0001）等物质有关。大多数学生对性传播感染和艾滋病毒/艾滋病的知识表现为较差（49.2%）或一般（48.7%），无论性行为如何，这种模式都持续存在。仅在过去12个月内与临时伴侣发生性行为时未使用避孕套（P = 0.021）与知识水平低有关。
该样本中危险性行为的患病率很高，对性传播感染的知识水平也很低。然而，对性传播感染和艾滋病毒/艾滋病的知识似乎不是这些行为的唯一决定因素。
