Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Obesity among Medical Students in Jalalabad City, Afghanistan

Background Obesity is a global public health concern affecting individuals of all ages, sexes, and socioeconomic groups. It is generally linked to a greater risk of disability. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of medical students toward obesity in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan. METHODS This institution-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted with 463 public and private medical university students in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan, from June 2023 to September 2023. The study participants were chosen via a nonprobability convenience sampling technique, and data were collected through structured questionnaires completed by all participants. RESULTS In this study, a total of 463 participants were enrolled. A total of 86.2% of them were male, and 13.8% were female. The majority (98.9%) had heard of term obesity. Body mass index (BMI) is the technique most commonly used to identify obesity. Ninety-five percent of the respondents were aware that obesity leads to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. The participants’ attitudes toward obesity were satisfactory. Obesity was viewed as a disease by 86.6% and weight loss as a necessity by 99.1% of the participants. Only 24.6% of the respondents believed that obesity was inherited and could not be reduced. Among the respondents, 23.8% walked every day, and 28% participated in sports. Over half (53.6%) of the participants had never attempted to lose weight, and 43.2% reported eating junk food on a daily basis. CONCLUSION Most participants were aware of obesity and agreed that obesity is a serious health problem; however, they had inadequate practices compared with their knowledge and attitudes.