Effect of absenteeism on the performance of medical sciences students: gender differences

Figures & data

Table 1. Students overall scores of all third-year courses

Section	Sex	(n)	Grades
			A+	A	D+	D
2019 Semester I	M	84	1 (1.2%)	4 (4.7%)	42 (50%)	65 (77.3%)
	F	147	13 (8.8%)	21 (14.2%)	54 (36.7%)	47 (31.9%)
2019 Semester II	M	81	2 (2.4%)	8 (9.8%)	42 (51.8%)	47 (58%)
	F	144	14 (9.7%)	24 (16.6%)	27 (18.7%)	32 (22.2%)

Table 2. Third-year students overall scores and absence rates of the Bacteriology course

Section	Sex	(n)	Grades		Absence rate (average)
			A+	A
2019 Semester I	M	9	0 (0%)	1 (11.1%)	4.58%
	F	19	3 (15.7%)	4 (21%)	16.66%
2019 Semester II	M	18	1 (5.5%)	1 (5.5%)	6.76%
	F	36	5 (13.8%)	4 (11.1%)	6.57%

Table 3. The average final grade and absence rate for both sexes in the clinical virology course

Variables	gender	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	SD	p-value
Grade	M (n = 43)	52.98	91.05	71.06	10.194	a0.0184
	F (n = 72)	59.59	93.08	77.13	7.495
Absence rate	M (n = 43)	2.99	20.00	12.74	3.937	0.1652
	F (n = 72)	0.00	19.12	9.974	3.955

a P-value < 0.05

Figure 1. Correlation between absence rates and students’ final grades (January – April 2019 section). Male students exhibited a significant correlation between absence and grades (a and b) whereas a less dependent relationship between the two variables was found for female students (c and d). Male students: n = 27; Female students: n = 33

Figure 2. Correlation between absence rates and students’ final grades (September – December 2019 section). Male students displayed a significant correlation between absence and grades (a and b) whereas a less dependent relationship between the two variables was found for female students (c and d). Male students: n = 16; Female students: n = 39