Revista de genética y genomas.

Demographic Associated Study in Relation to COVID-19

Abstract

Rooth Vasantha Medapati , Raja Sai Sathvik Godi , Meghana Dasari , Aparanji Poosarla4 , Sridevi Suvvari , Saritha Medapati and Sudhakar Godi

Introduction: Coronavirus has caused a major burden to mankind since the end of the year 2019 and is still persisting. School going children play a vital role in sustaining the human race and it is necessary to educate them about Coronavirus disease and inculcate in them the preventive measures to minimize its outbreak. This study is aimed to determine the level of awareness and knowledge on preventive measures of this disease and to find their association with demographic variables in high school students.

Methods: A close ended questionnaire based demographic study was done to assess the awareness and knowledge of COVID-19 on 242 school children, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. The collected data was statistically analyzed.

Results: The study revealed that the highest percentages of students were in the age group of 14 years (41.73%) and majority of them were female (52.89%). Most of the students were residing in urban area (67.35%). The maximum source of knowledge about the disease was from mass media (75.61%). Awareness associated studies showed significance with the variables of age group (P=0.004), area of residence (P=0.04), and nutritional status of the students (P=0.016), while the knowledge related studies showed significance with only nutritional status of the students (P=0.001). Students residing in rural area decreased the odds of awareness. Female students and 13 years of age students having marginal nutrition have increased the odds of having awareness. Students who are having good health increased the odds of knowledge while those who were over nutrition decreased the odds of knowledge on preventive measures. (P<0.05 was considered as significant).

Conclusion: The study denotes that the efforts of the global health authorities in imparting the necessary steps through mass media to save the public were successful. More awareness and knowledge through mass media increases the tendency of gaining knowledge and awareness towards COVID-19. It is suggestible to include modern technologies and also breathing exercises in school curriculums to protect the students from COVID-19. Further study on various aspects of this respiratory disease with larger sample size will help in acquiring an indepth knowledge on corona virus.