Paediatria Croatica, Vol. 66 No. 1-2, 2022.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.13112/PC.2022.1
Knowledge and attitudes about undescended testicles – the need for an educational approach
Marko Bašković
orcid.org/0000-0003-4218-6184
Tonko Čolić
Mario Mašić
orcid.org/0000-0002-3059-3690
Luca Zaninović
orcid.org/0000-0002-1839-4234
Ante Čizmić
Ana Katušić Bojanac
Davor Ježek
Abstract
Objective: Considering the poor indicators relating to the age group undergoing orchidopexy for the congenital group with undescended testicles, the objective of this article is to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of residents and young specialists in the
fi eld of pediatrics, family, and school medicine concerning the above-mentioned issue, given that these specialists are, in most cases,
the fi rst from whom parents contact seek help and opinion.
Methods: The knowledge and attitudes of residents and young specialists were examined using an anonymous online questionnaire, based on the latest knowledge and guidelines. Data collection was carried out using the free Google Forms® program. To determine whether the obtained answers deviate from the answers expected under a certain hypothesis, the answers were compared
using the chi-square test with a statistical signifi cance level of 5%.
Results: The questionnaire was fi lled out by 129 residents and young specialists, most of whom believe that, during their studies and specialist training, they had not heard and learned enough about undescended testicles, and they considered their knowledge about the
problem of undescended testicles to be unsatisfactory, and they had not encountered guidelines in their career detailing the diagnosis
and treatment of undescended testicles. The answers to most of the questions were unsatisfactory based on the latest guidelines. Almost
two-thirds of the respondents believe that boys with undescended testicles in the Republic of Croatia are not cared for and treated on
time, and one-third of the respondents see the key problem in primary pediatricians, family doctors, and school-age medical teams.
Conclusions: Considering the well-known consequences of untimely treatment of undescended testicles in boys, the results of the
survey analysis, which we cannot be satisfi ed with, must be approached seriously. Therefore, we encourage future evidence-based
educational interventions to provide better information about the problem of undescended testicles and ultimately shift the timing
of orchidopexies to an earlier age.
Keywords
CRYPTORCHIDISM; ORCHIOPEXY; KNOWLEDGE; PHYSICIANS
Hrčak ID:
286212
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2022.
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