Prostate cancer screening: A survey of medical students’ knowledge in Lome, Togo, and associated determinants in a resource-limited African context

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to assess the knowledge of medical students in Lomé about these means of screening for prostate cancer in a context of limited resources and controversy about prostate cancer screening, and to identify the determinants associated with these results. METHODS: This was a prospective descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted in the form of a survey of medical students regularly enrolled at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Lomé for the 2019–2020 academic years. RESULTS: Of the 1635 eligible students, 1017 correctly completed the form, corresponding to a rate of 62.20%. The average age was 22 ± 3.35 years. The sex ratio (M/F) was 2.5. Undergraduate students were the most represented (53.69%). Students who had not received any training on prostate cancer were the most represented (57.13%). Only 12.88% of the students had completed a training course in urology. Concerning the prostate-specific antigen blood test, there was a statistically significant relationship between the students’ knowledge and some of their socio-demographic characteristics, namely age (p value = 0.0037; 95% confidence interval (0.50–1.77)); gender (p value = 0.0034; 95% confidence interval (1.43–2.38)); study cycle (p value ˂ 0.0001; 95% confidence interval (0.56–5.13)) and whether or not they had completed a placement in a urology department (p value ˂ 0.0001; 95% confidence interval (0.49–1.55)). On the contrary, there was no statistically significant relationship between students’ knowledge of the digital rectal examination and their study cycle (p value = 0.082; 95% confidence interval (0.18–3.44)). CONCLUSION: Medical students in Lomé have a good theoretical knowledge and a fair practical level of the digital rectal examination clinical examination and an average theoretical knowledge and a below average practical level of prostate-specific antigen, increasing however along the curriculum in the context of prostate cancer screening.