Factors influencing medical students’ knowledge and attitudes toward climate change: A cross-sectional study

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0330875 October 10, 2025 5 / 12 Results Of 458 applicants to the residency programs, 311 completed the survey (67.9% response rate). Participant demograph- ics are presented in Table 1. Most survey respondents were female (n = 206, 66.24%), aged 25–30 years (n = 183, 58.84%), and attended medical school in the MENA region (n = 209, 67.20%). Approximately half of the respondents were applying to residency in a medical specialty (n = 172, 55.31%), and 23.8% (n = 74) were applying to surgery or a surgical specialty. Climate change education received in medical school Most respondents did not receive climate change education in their medical school curriculum (n = 197, 63.34%). Of the 78 students who did receive education, lectures were the most common teaching format (n = 70, 89.74%), followed by small group discussions (n = 44, 56.41%). Computer-based learning (n = 27, 34.62%), clerkship or clinical rotations (n = 23, 29.49%), and simulation or standardized/professional patients (n = 17, 21.79%) were rarely employed to teach climate change-related topics (Table 2). The impact of climate change on public health was the most frequently taught topic (n = 73, 93.59%), while only about half of the participants reported learning about policy implications and advocacy related to climate change and health (n = 42, 53.85%) or strategies to prepare the healthcare sector to deal with the impacts of climate change on health (n = 44; 56.41%) (Table 2). Table 1. Demographics of survey respondents (N = 311).

Characteristic Participants, n (%N) Gender Female 206 (66.24) Male 105 (33.76) Age (years) Under 25 114 (36.66) 25–30 183 (58.84) 31–35 11 (3.54) Over 35 3 (0.96) Geographic region of medical school Middle East/ North Africa 209 (67.2) Asia 49 (15.76) Europe 32 (10.29) Africa 21 (6.75) Residency choice Medicala 172 (55.31) General Surgery or surgical subspecialty 74 (23.79) Emergency medicine 30 (9.65) Othera 35 (11.25) Received climate change education in medical school Yes 78 (25.08) No 197 (63.34) I do not recall 36 (11.58) aMedical specialties include internal medicine, family medicine, dermatology, neurology, pediatrics, and psychiatry. bOther specialties include anesthesiology, radiology, and undecided. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0330875.t001