Aims:

To document attitudes towards statistics and to explore their determinants in medical degree students. To explore the relationship between qualification in biostatistics and attitudes towards statistics.

Subjects and methods:

Observational study, longitudinal and analytical in medical degree students. To measure the attitude toward statistics at the beginning and end of the course, the Spanish version of the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics-28 (SATS-28) was used.

Results:

Responded 75.5% (n = 34) of the attendees. The mean score of SATS-28 was 4.62 ± 0.66, being significantly higher than neutral (p < 0.001). The scores on the subscales indicated that the students conceive the statistics as very useful but difficult. Multiple regression showed that women and older students had a better attitude towards statistics. There is a positive and moderate correlation between the qualification in biostatistics and the total score in the SATS-28. The total score of the SATS-28 increased significantly 0.25 points (p = 0.038), once the subject of biostatistics was completed.

Conclusions:

The results of this study suggest that medical students have a positive attitude towards statistics, increasing performance in biostatistics in those with a positive attitude. Once the course of biostatistics was completed, the positive attitude toward statistics increased.

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