Knowledge and Attitude towards Obstructive Sleep Apnea among Primary Care Physicians in Northern Regions of Saudi Arabia: A Multicenter Study

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a serious and often underreported condition, despite its highly prevalent distribution. Primary care physicians (PCPs) play an integral role in screening and managing patients with a high risk of developing OSA. This northern Saudi Arabian cross-sectional survey assessed the knowledge and attitude towards OSA among 264 randomly selected PCPs using the OSA Knowledge and Attitude (OSAKA) questionnaire. Among the participating PCPs, 43.9% and 45.1% had low scores in the knowledge and attitude categories, respectively. More than three-fourths (78%) of them recognized that an overnight sleep study is the gold standard for diagnosing OSA. Regarding referral, 39.4% of the OSA patients encountered by the PCPs were referred to ENT specialists, while 21% were referred to sleep clinics, and 18.2% were referred to pulmonologists. Nearly half (50.8%) of the participants recognized OSA as an important clinical disease, and 56.8% were confident in caring for OSA patients. Spearman’s correlation of the current study identified a positive correlation between knowledge scores and attitude scores (rho—0.151, p = 0.017). It is important to improve PCPs’ knowledge regarding OSA and the necessity for referral through different training methods. Furthermore, the study findings emphasize the need to include appropriate OSA programs and continuing medical education for PCPs.

Knowledge, Awareness, and Attitude Regarding Obstructive Sleep Apnea Among Primary Healthcare Physicians in the Al-Baha Region of Saudi Arabia

“…The participants exhibited a low to moderate degree of overall knowledge and awareness, with just a minority displaying a high level of knowledge and awareness. Similar results were reported by recent studies conducted in Saudi Arabia and Ecuador, which revealed that the mean score of the respondents was approximately 10 out of 18 [ 22 , 24 ]. On the contrary, a few alternative studies have documented somewhat higher average knowledge scores among the participants [ 16 , 25 ].…”

“…Higher levels of knowledge and awareness were observed among females, non-Saudi participants, those who specialized in internal medicine, pediatrics, and otolaryngology, persons with fewer than 10 years of experience, and specialists and consultants. The results of this study align with prior research that has demonstrated discrepancies in OSA knowledge and awareness according to demographic attributes [ 22 , 27 ]. The authors emphasize the need to take into account these variables during the development of training interventions and customize them to suit the particular requirements of distinct healthcare professional cohorts.…”

“…In terms of their confidence in utilizing OSA screening techniques, the participants' viewpoints were comparatively balanced. This result may be attributable to the absence of universally acknowledged and standardized screening instruments for OSA in primary care settings [ 22 ]. Similar to this study’s findings, another study by Chang et al compared primary care physicians' attitudes toward OSA in three African regions, and they reported that their study participants had low confidence in caring for OSA patients [ 23 ].…”

“…In terms of their confidence in utilizing OSA screening techniques, the participants' viewpoints were comparatively balanced. This result may be attributable to the absence of universally acknowledged and standardized screening instruments for OSA in primary care settings [22].…”

Prevalence of Sleep Disorders Among the General Population of the Jazan Region of Southwest Saudi Arabia

“…Saudi Arabia likely has a high prevalence of sleep disorders, including OSA, owing to the increasing prevalence of obesity and diabetes [9,10]. Some Saudi studies have evaluated sleep disorder and OSA prevalence in Riyadh (21%), and the eastern province (26%) [11,12].…”