Knowledge about obstructive sleep apnea among medical undergraduate students: A long way to go!

Abstract

Objective: The aim is to study the knowledge and attitude of medical undergraduate students regarding obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 324 medical undergraduate students in clinical semesters. Knowledge and attitude regarding adult OSA were assessed using the obstructive sleep apnea knowledge and attitude (OSAKA), and to evaluate the same about childhood OSA, OSAKA-KIDS was used. Results: Results showed that the study population was not informed about OSA among adults as well as kids. Most of the participants could recognize that snoring was a common symptom of adult OSA but failed to identify the association between childhood OSA and hyperactivity. The participants had a good knowledge about the pathophysiology of OSA. More than 80% of students reported that OSA is an important disorder and that these patients should be identified. Conclusion: Medical undergraduates are poorly informed about OSA.

Awareness and attitude among general dentists and orthodontists toward obstructive sleep apnea in children

“…Thus, the fact that in our study, only 11.6% of the dentists involved in the search believed they had high knowledge and that only half of the interviewees (50.4%) thought they could handle young patients with OSA is not surprising, although this highlights the need for improving pediatric OSA education. Lower percentages of self-confidence in managing OSA in children were found among physicians (29.2%) in a study by Uong et al ( 19 ) and among medical students in a study by Wadhwa et al ( 33 ).…”

Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Program on Level of Knowledge Regarding Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) among Nursing Students.

“…Different studies that assessed knowledge regarding OSA conducted on nursing practitioners and medical undergraduate students reported fair knowledge among the former, owing to years of experience, (Valerio & Heaton, 2014) but among the latter, the knowledge related to OSA was limited. (Goyal et al, 2018;Ozoh OB et al, 2015;Wadhwa R et al, 2020;Zaidi et al, 2021)In India, medical students and graduates were largely unawareof the incidence of OSA in adults and children. (Goyal et al, 2018;Wadhwa R et al, 2020) (Goyal et al, 2018;Wadhwa R et al, 2020) This was consistent with the current study findings where the majority of the nursing students had inadequate knowledge about OSA.…”

“…(Goyal et al, 2018;Ozoh OB et al, 2015;Wadhwa R et al, 2020;Zaidi et al, 2021)In India, medical students and graduates were largely unawareof the incidence of OSA in adults and children. (Goyal et al, 2018;Wadhwa R et al, 2020) (Goyal et al, 2018;Wadhwa R et al, 2020) This was consistent with the current study findings where the majority of the nursing students had inadequate knowledge about OSA. On item-wise analysis, it was found that they lacked adequate knowledge related to the treatment of OSA, followed by symptoms, diagnosis, then epidemiology, and pathophysiology.…”

“…On item-wise analysis, it was found that they lacked adequate knowledge related to the treatment of OSA, followed by symptoms, diagnosis, then epidemiology, and pathophysiology. In the study conducted by Wadhwa et. al.,(Wadhwa R et al, 2020) itemwise assessment was inconsistent, in that there was no demarcation of subsections of the questionnaire unlike the one used in the present study, however, they saw a lack of knowledge regarding treatment using uvulopalatoplasty, normal AHI, and collar size in men with OSA, which covered aspects of treatment, pathophysiology, and epidemiology, respectively.…”

“…Poor knowledge and lack of awareness of OSA were reported among the public and (Arous et al, 2017;Sia et al, 2017) adequate knowledge of OSA was observed among physicians and healthcare professionals (Beck et al, 2020;Chang et al, 2020;Devaraj, 2020). However, in India, medical students and graduates are uninformed about the incidence of OSA in adults and children (Goyal et al, 2018;Wadhwa R et al, 2020). Awareness among students can be created by case-based studies during residency and grand rounds, and lecture series.…”