OBJECTIVE Previous data suggest that physicians have suboptimal knowledge about peripheral artery disease (PAD). Our aim was to evaluate Canadian medical students' knowledge of PAD to determine if this knowledge gap exists early in medical training. METHODS We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional, interview-based study of graduating medical students at the University of Toronto. We used a standardized questionnaire to evaluate students' knowledge of PAD and coronary artery disease (CAD) in the following domains: clinical presentation, risk factors, preventative measures, treatment, and complications. We calculated mean (standard deviation [SD]) scores for each CAD and PAD knowledge domain and examined for differences in PAD vs CAD scores. RESULTS Seventy-two graduating medical students participated in this study, of which females accounted for 58%. Nearly all participants reported being exposed to PAD (89%) and CAD (92%) through their medical school curriculum. Overall, medical students scored better in identifying CAD characteristics (mean [SD] score, 16.4 [2.7]) compared with PAD (mean [SD] score, 14.6 [3.2]) (P < .0001). This difference was driven by the inferior performance of students in identifying risk factors (P < .0001), preventative measures (P = .049), and complications (P < .0001) of PAD compared with CAD. Out-of-class exposure (eg, clinical rotation, research experience) had a positive impact on students knowledge of both PAD and CAD. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate suboptimal knowledge of medical graduates of both CAD and PAD. Although they share common atherosclerotic risk factors and cardiovascular complications, medical students were less likely to associate these with PAD than CAD. We recommend a comprehensive module that incorporates all presentations of atherosclerotic disorders to enhance students' understanding of these pathologies in medical schools.

中文翻译：

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周围动脉疾病的知识鸿沟始于医学院。

目的先前的数据表明，医生对外周动脉疾病（PAD）的了解不足。我们的目的是评估加拿大医学生对PAD的了解，以确定这种知识差距在医学培训的早期是否存在。方法我们对多伦多大学的应届医学生进行了描述性，横断面，面试的研究。我们使用标准化的调查表在以下领域评估学生对PAD和冠状动脉疾病（CAD）的了解：临床表现，危险因素，预防措施，治疗和并发症。我们计算了每个CAD和PAD知识域的平均值（标准差[SD]）分数，并检查了PAD与CAD分数之间的差异。结果72名应届医学生参加了这项研究，其中女性占58％。几乎所有参与者都报告说，他们通过医学院课程接触了PAD（89％）和CAD（92％）。总体而言，与PAD（平均[SD]得分14.6 [3.2]）相比，医学生在识别CAD特征方面得分更高（平均[SD]得分16.4 [2.7]）（P <.0001）。造成这种差异的原因是，与CAD相比，学生识别PAD的危险因素（P <.0001），预防措施（P = .049）和并发症（P <.0001）的表现较差。课外接触（例如临床轮换，研究经验）对学生的PAD和CAD知识有积极影响。结论我们的结果表明，CAD和PAD的医学专业毕业生的知识不是最理想的。尽管它们具有共同的动脉粥样硬化危险因素和心血管并发症，与CAD相比，医学生不太可能将其与PAD关联。我们建议一个综合模块，其中包含所有动脉粥样硬化疾病的表现，以增强学生对医学院校这些病理的了解。