Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices in the Management of Biomedical Waste: A Multivariate Analysis of Associated Factors in Peruvian Students

Abstract

Aim and objective: To evaluate the awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practices in the management of biomedical waste (BMW) by multivariate analysis of associated factors in Peruvian dentistry students. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical-multivariate study was conducted to evaluate the entire population of undergraduate dentistry students of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (N = 254) from April to October 2019. The variables analyzed were gender (X1), age (X2), year of study (X3), and marital status (X4). The Logit model was implemented including all risk factors to explain which variables significantly influence the dependent variable. The crude odd ratio (OR) was used with a level of significance p < 0.05. Results: The Logit model showed that age, gender, year of study and marital status do not significantly influence awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practices in the management of BMW, showing a crude OR of 1.0 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.89–1.14]; 1.1 95% CI [0.68–2.02]; 0.8 95% CI [0.64–1.10] and 1.2 95% CI [0.37–3.93] respectively. Conclusion: The variables age, gender, year of study and marital status do not significantly influence the awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practices in the management BMW of Peruvian dental students. Clinical significance: This research allows to know the knowledge about the management of biomedical waste of Peruvian dental students.