Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas sobre tuberculosis en estudiantes de una universidad peruana

Introduction: Tuberculosis is the most important infectious disease in the human being due to its high global incidence, constituting a public health concern. The knowledge, attitudes and practices about it have been evaluated in university students and health sciences professionals, but others have been neglected. Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and practices about tuberculosis in students who do not belong to health sciences of a Peruvian university. Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study that included students from the National University of Central Peru who were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. Then each section was characterized and the differences were found according to the characteristics of the students and through the generalized linear models. Results: Out of 631 students, 54.7% were women, 66.6% scored low on the knowledge test; 47.7% reported that the etiologic agent is a virus, 74.9% are unaware of the term latent tuberculosis. while only 29.6% know that the correct measure to treat it is not to stop taking the pills. The media was the main source of information (55.0%). A high score was predominant in the assessment of attitudes (66.7%) and practices (55.8%). There were no differences in knowledge and practices, according to the characteristics of the students (p>0.05). Conclusions: Health education programs should be strengthened to improve the knowledge of university students and other similar centers.