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Table 1 Characteristics of student participants and their interest in pursuing medical study prior and post the COVID-19 outbreak

From: COVID-19 outbreak improves attractiveness of medical careers in Chinese senior high school students

Characteristics

Total (%)a

Before COVID-19

After COVID-19

Differencee

χ2

P value f

Nob

Percentagec

IQRd

Nob

Percentagec

IQRd

All subjects

21,085

3682

17.5

(13.9, 20.9)

6249

29.6

(23.6, 35.6)

12.1

2175.5

< 0.001

Sex

 Male

9933 (47.1)

1583

15.9

(11.4, 19.7)

2658

26.8

(20.6, 31.2)

10.9

907.8

< 0.001

 Female

11,152 (52.9)

2099

18.8

(15.7, 22.3)

3591

32.2

(27.5, 38.4)

13.4

1267.7

< 0.001

Father’s education

 Below primary school

1727 (8.2)

276

16.0

(10.7, 21.3)

538

31.2

(18.3, 43.8)

15.2

235.1

< 0.001

 Junior school

5831 (27.7)

962

16.5

(12.0, 20.4)

1767

30.3

(24.6, 35.8)

13.8

696.1

< 0.001

 High school

5934 (28.1)

1060

17.9

(13.2, 20.7)

1774

29.9

(24.2, 35.0)

12.0

609.8

< 0.001

 Diploma

2972 (14.1)

534

18.0

(12.8, 22.3)

900

30.3

(23.6, 38.0)

12.3

318.9

< 0.001

 University or above

4621 (21.9)

850

18.4

(13.4, 25.6)

1270

27.5

(23.0, 34.4)

9.1

320.7

< 0.001

Mother’s education

 Below primary school

2868 (13.6)

446

15.6

(12.3, 23.6)

886

30.9

(24.8, 39.2)

15.3

400.0

< 0.001

 Junior school

6234 (29.6)

1061

17.0

(12.7, 19.7)

1886

30.3

(23.2, 34.6)

13.3

706.8

< 0.001

 High school

4933 (23.4)

853

17.3

(10.6, 22.0)

1443

29.3

(21.2, 36.3)

12.0

504.5

< 0.001

 Diploma

3339 (15.8)

641

19.2

(11.2, 22.5)

1007

30.2

(21.7, 35.3)

11.0

299.0

< 0.001

 University and above

3711 (17.6)

681

18.4

(16.6, 28.2)

1027

27.7

(23.8, 39.5)

9.3

269.6

< 0.001

Region

 Hubei

809 (3.8)

100

12.4

 

167

20.6

 

8.2

50.4

< 0.001

 Non-Hubei

20,276 (96.2)

3582

17.7

(14.4, 21.1)

6082

30.0

(24.0, 35.7)

12.3

2125.9

< 0.001

Academic year

 Year 1

7032 (33.4)

1193

17.0

(13.5, 19.7)

2155

30.6

(24.2, 34.8)

13.6

845.9

< 0.001

 Year 2

6698 (31.8)

1019

15.2

(10.6, 18.8)

1789

26.7

(19.8, 35.3)

11.5

651.5

< 0.001

 Graduate year

6984 (33.1)

1373

19.7

(12.9, 20.6)

2158

30.9

(22.9, 35.3)

11.2

639.9

< 0.001

 Resit of graduate year

371 (1.8)

97

26.1

(0, 30.8)

147

39.6

(9.1, 100.0)

13.5

40.3

< 0.001

Academic performance

 Top tier

14,698 (69.7)

2695

18.3

(14.3, 21.7)

4352

29.6

(24.0, 34.8)

11.3

1390.2

< 0.001

 Second tier

4679 (22.2)

733

15.7

(10.8, 20.0)

1402

30.0

(21.9, 36.6)

14.3

576.0

< 0.001

 Third tier

687 (3.3)

117

17.0

(0, 20.0)

239

34.8

(25.0, 46.6)

17.8

112.8

< 0.001

 Others

1021 (4.8)

137

13.4

(0.0, 21.1)

256

25.1

(6.3, 37.5)

11.7

97.7

< 0.001

Any acquaintance with COVID-19

 Yes

328 (1.6)

49

14.9

(0, 33.3)

82

25.0

(0, 50.0)

10.1

26.6

0.0013

 No

20,757 (98.4)

3633

17.5

(14.0, 20.9)

6167

29.7

(23.5, 35.8)

12.2

2149.0

< 0.001

IDSHL score

  ≤ 73

10,759 (51.0)

1500

13.9

(10.5, 16.5)

2761

25.6

(19.8, 31.0)

11.7

1056.6

< 0.001

 >73

10,326 (49.0)

2182

21.2

(16.8, 25.5)

3488

33.8

(27.7, 39.1)

12.6

1119.1

< 0.001

  1. aTotal number of students in all or subgroups and percentage of the subgroup
  2. bNumber of students who selected medicine
  3. cPercentage referring to the percentage of students who selected medicine in the subgroup, each value represents the percentage
  4. dIQR: Interquartile range, represented by the Q1 and Q3 value from the 36 schools with more than 100 participants
  5. eDifference calculated as the subtraction the percentage of students selecting medicine during COVID-19 from the percentage before the outbreak
  6. fχ2 and P values for McNemar tests in each subgroup
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