Impact of COVID-19 on the awareness and interest in infectious disease specialization among Japanese medical students

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted the critical deficiency of infectious disease (ID) specialists, a subspecialty that remains underrepresented among Japanese medical students. This nationwide cross-sectional survey was administered between April and August 2024 via an online questionnaire distributed to medical students throughout Japan. The survey assessed awareness of and interest in ID specialization, categorizing students by academic year: lower (first- and second-year students), middle (third- and fourth-year students), and upper grades (fifth- and sixth-year students). Of 502 respondents, data for 492 medical students were eligible, of whom 69.7% demonstrated awareness of ID specialists, with recognition rates increasing proportionally with academic progression.  Regarding career aspirations, 9.8% of respondents expressed interest in pursuing ID specialization, with the highest proportion observed among upper-grade students (19.4%). Male students (14.8%) expressed great..., , # Impact of COVID-19 on the awareness and interest in infectious disease specialization among Japanese medical students

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.r7sqv9sqw](10.5061/dryad.r7sqv9sqw)

## Description of the data and file structure

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted between April 12 and August 31, 2024. A web-based questionnaire created using Google Forms was distributed by the Japan Association for Medical Student Societies to students enrolled in medical schools.

Contains one file: translated_dataset_full_updated3_0819.csv

## Access information

Other publicly accessible locations of the data:

* None

Data was derived from the following sources:

* Not applicable

, Informed consent was obtained from each participant before the completion of the questionnaire. The study was approved by the review board of Okayama University Hospital (approval No. 2312-036).