Aims:

To report the knowledge in biostatistics and epidemiology, as well as attitudes toward statistics in postgraduate students of the Faculty of Medicine of a Spanish university, and to explore the relationship between knowledge in biostatistics and epidemiology and attitudes towards statistics.

Subjects and methods:

Observational, cross-sectional and analytical study of resident physicians. To investigate the knowledge in biostatistics and epidemiology, the Novack questionnaire was applied and to measure the attitude towards statistics the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics-28 (SATS-28). The following variables were considered: age, sex, medical specialty, year of residence. In addition, it was inquired if they had previous knowledge of statistics (courses conducted and statistical software management).

Results:

In the evaluation of knowledge in biostatistics and epidemiology, the percentage of correct answers exceeded 70%. 50% got 8 points or more (out of 10). Regarding subscale scores, as well as the overall score of SATS-28, the majority of medical postgraduates maintained positive attitudes towards statistics, so that the average score was 4.43 ± 0.72, being significantly superior to neutral. There is a positive and statistically significant correlation between the total score in the knowledge questionnaire and the total score in the SATS-28.

Conclusions:

The results of this study suggest that medicine residents possess good knowledge in biostatistics and epidemiology, increasing in those with a greater positive attitude towards statistics.

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