Abstract:

Objective: To understand pediatricians’ knowledge of childhood tuberculosis control and prevention and its influencing factors, and to provide a scientific basis for the development of childhood tuberculosis control policy and training materials. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey tool Wenjuanxing (https://www.wjx.cn/, in Chinese). A total of 2278 questionnaires were distributed, and 2138 valid questionnaires were received with effective rate of 93.85%. Multiple linear regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of pediatricians’ knowledge on childhood tuberculosis prevention and control. Results: The overall awareness rate of childhood tuberculosis prevention and treatment was 34.36% (11753/34208). The awareness rate of the knowledge of tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management were 22.56% (1929/8552), 25.80% (2206/8552), 25.36% (2169/8552) and 63.72% (5449/8552), respectively. The results of multiple linear regression model showed that compared with pediatricians with secondary/tertiary education, in non-pediatric respiratory departments, without tuberculosis knowledge training, in secondary hospitals, and who did not treated children with tuberculosis, pediatricians with master's degrees or above, in pediatric respiratory departments, participated in tuberculosis knowledge training, in tertiary hospitals and receiving pediatric tuberculosis patients had better knowledge about tuberculosis prevention and control (t=2.888, P=0.004; t=4.466, P<0.001; t=7.459, P<0.001; t=2.707, P=0.007; t=3.296, P=0.001). Pediatricians participated in tuberculosis knowledge trainings knew more items of the knowledge of tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management (t=6.718, P<0.001; t=2.044, P=0.041; t=5.864, P<0.001; t=3.306, P=0.001). Pediatricians who treated children with tuberculosis had more knowledge about prevention, diagnosis and treatment (t=3.084, P=0.002; t=2.832, P=0.005; t=2.195, P=0.028). Conclusion: The overall knowledge of tuberculosis prevention and control among pediatric medical personnel was relatively low, especially in the knowledge of tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Strengthening the specialized training of pediatricians is an important issue that needs to be urgently addressed at present.

Key words: Tuberculosis, Hospitals, pediatric, Health knowledge, attitudes, practice, Factor analysis, statistical