Awareness of Microplastics and its Association with Sociodemographic Determinants among Medical Students in South India - A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Global public health is seriously threatened by microplastic contamination, with the majority of microplastics coming from human activity. Therefore, raising public awareness will be the most effective way to decrease microplastic contamination. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the awareness of microplastics and their association among the medical students in a tertiary care teaching institute in Kulasekharam, Tamil Nadu. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students at a tertiary care teaching institute in Kulasekharam, Tamil Nadu, from November 2025 to January 2026. A simple random sampling technique was used to choose 370 participants. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect knowledge, attitude and awareness variables on microplastics. The data were analysed using SPSS version 26 software. Frequencies, mean, standard deviation and proportions were calculated. The chi-square test was used to find the association between variables, and a p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: This research had 370 students in total. The participants' mean age (standard deviation) was 20.81 (1.846) years. Awareness of microplastics was statistically significantly predicted by variables such as age above 20 years (OR=2.414; 95%CI: 1.564 – 3.727; p < 0.001), female gender (OR=1.942; 95%CI: 1.251 – 3.012; p = 0.003), and clinical year of study (OR=1.804; 95%CI: 1.173 – 2.774; p = 0.007). Conclusion: Awareness of microplastics is influenced by gender and educational level. Integrating environmental health topics into medical education is recommended.

Keywords: Microplastics, Awareness, Medical students, Environmental health, Cross-sectional study.