Journal of Islamic International Medical College (Dec 2024)

Knowledge of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Among Dentists; A Cross-Sectional Study

  • Muhammad Sajid , Asfia Saeed , Afsheen Akhtar , Saqib Arshad Khan , Sheze Haroon , Ayesha Usmani

DOI
https://doi.org/10.57234/jiimc.december24.2102
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 4
pp. 244 – 249

Abstract

Read online

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of general and specialist dental practitioners working in teaching hospitals in Islamabad regarding the diagnostic criteria, referral practices, treatment options, and clinical management of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Study Design: Cross-Sectional Analytical Study. Place and Duration of Study: Islamabad Dental Hospital, over six months from 7 September 2021 to 10 March 2022. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire was prepared by merging the “Obstructive Sleep Apnea Knowledge and Attitude” (OSAKA) questionnaire with validated published questionnaires. Then validation was done by conducting a pilot study on 20 graduated dentists, giving Cronbach's alpha value of 0.759. It comprised 30 closeended items on risk factors, signs and symptoms, consequences, diagnostic tools, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) management. The questionnaire was distributed to 215 dentists working in the teaching hospitals in Islamabad. The data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 25. The normality of data was checked using a box plot and the Shapiro-Wilk test. A one-way ANOVA/Kruskal-Walli's test was then used to assess the difference between the groups for designation, experience, and discipline. The post hoc Tukey's test was used for pair-wise comparison and p value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Almost 208 participants were familiar with the term sleep apnea. The overall knowledge scores were 12.82 ± 4.30. A statistically significant difference was noted between the knowledge scores with designation (p value 0.014) and clinical discipline (p value 0.028). Dunn's post hoc comparison showed a significant difference between the specialists and demonstrators (p value 0.001) and Bonferroni's post hoc test showed a significant difference between OMFS and periodontology (p value 0.047), and between oral medicine and periodontology (p value 0.030). Conclusion: Although most dentists were familiar with sleep apnea, many participants lacked knowledge about its diagnosis and management.

Keywords