Knowledge of obstructive sleep apnoea in final year medical students and junior doctors-a multi-centre cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND

Sleep medicine is an under-recognised medical specialty in Pakistan and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) often goes unnoticed. Final year medical students and junior doctors are the primary medical contact to elicit patient history and physical examination. We aimed to measure the current knowledge of OSA amongst the final year medical students and junior doctors at four university teaching hospitals across three large Pakistani cities.

METHODS

Cross-sectional survey of final year medical students and junior doctors rotating through medical wards of four university teaching hospitals were conducted during August-October 2019. The knowledge section of the OSA knowledge and attitude (OSAKA) questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics were used to present the data with Chi-Square test and independent samples student t-test to compare the differences between individual items and mean scores of the participants, respectively.

RESULTS

A total 282 final year medical students and 204 junior doctors completed the survey yielding a response rate of 53% for medical students and 97% for junior doctors. The knowledge of sleep apnoea was poor in both groups of participants with a mean score of 7.6 (42%) on the knowledge scale of OSAKA questionnaire. Medical students scored higher on the item related to snoring as the most prevalent symptom in OSA patients when compared to the junior doctors (χ  = 8.92, P = 0.003). More junior doctors responded correctly about the role of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty in the management of OSA when compared to the medical students (χ  = 5.14, P = 0.02). Differences in scores of both groups of participants on other items were small and did not reach statistical significance.

CONCLUSION

Final year medical students and junior doctors from a sample of four university teaching hospitals in three large cities of Pakistan have limited knowledge about the diagnosis and management of OSA. The observed limited knowledge of OSA may contribute towards under-diagnosis of this increasingly prevalent medical condition.