Research On The Knowledge And Attitudes Of Medical Personnel In Guangzhou Towards Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Research ObjectivesBy means of a sample survey,this study aims to explore the level of knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionals in this region towards Obstructive Sleep Apnea(OSA),and identify areas where their knowledge is lacking.The ultimate goal is to strengthen their understanding and awareness of OSA,and to promote early detection and treatment for high-risk OSA patients.Research Methods1.A probability-proportional-to-size(PPS)sampling method,based on the number of medical institutions in the area,was utilized to select healthcare professionals from various public medical institutions in Guangzhou from August to September 2022.A questionnaire was distributed to investigate their knowledge and attitudes towards OSA,which consisted of three parts: personal information,OSA knowledge,and OSA attitudes.2.The collected data was input into Excel by a quality control officer,and subjected to statistical analysis using IBM SPSS version 26.0.The significance level was set at α=0.05,and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Research resultOut of 1240 distributed questionnaires to 40 medical institutions across 8districts in Guangzhou,1125 questionnaires were returned,yielding an effective rate of 90.7%.1.The survey participants consisted of 336 males(29.9%)and 789 females(70.1%),with an average age of 36(30,41)years old.There were 569 clinical physicians(50.6%)and 1014(91.1%)participants had a bachelor’s degree or lower,while only 111(9.9%)had a master’s degree or higher.Most participants held junior(447 individuals,42.4%)or intermediate(517 individuals,46.0%)professional titles.853(75.8%)of respondents were from hospitals with a rank of three or below,and208(18.5%)reported that their affiliated institutions had sleep centers.2.The Cronbach’s α coefficient for the 18 items of OSA knowledge was 0.780,indicating good internal consistency reliability.The median score for the overall OSA knowledge test was 0.83(0.22),while the median scores for OSA epidemiology,pathophysiology,clinical presentation,diagnosis,and treatment knowledge dimensions were 0.86(0.29),1.00(0.00),1.00(0.00),1.00(0.00),and 1.00(0.00),respectively.The pathophysiology and clinical presentation knowledge dimensions had the highest scores,while epidemiology was the worst(adj.P<0.001).The OSA knowledge test scores of the survey participants were influenced by gender,occupation,education level,professional title,hospital level,affiliation with a unit that has a sleep center,and the perceived importance of OSA(P<0.05).3.The Cronbach’s α coefficient for the six items in the OSA attitude survey was0.810,indicating good internal consistency reliability.Most participants(99.2%,95.4%,94.6%)believed that enhancing OSA knowledge,recognizing OSA as a clinical disease,and identifying patients with OSA were important(important,very important,extremely important).Over half of the participants(66.1%,54.3%,53.6%)were confident in identifying OSA patients,treating OSA patients,and managing OSA patients treated with Continuous Positive Airway Pressure(CPAP)therapy(agree,strongly agree).The ratings of OSA importance and confidence in diagnosis and treatment were correlated with gender,age,years of work,occupation, professional title,and whether the affiliated institution had a sleep center(P<0.05).Research conclusion1.Medical professionals in Guangzhou had the best grasp of OSA clinical presentation knowledge,while their understanding of OSA treatment and epidemiology knowledge was the weakest.2.In Guangzhou,the level of OSA knowledge,perceived importance,and confidence in diagnosis and treatment among medical professionals were influenced by occupation,education level,professional title,hospital level,and whether the affiliated institution had a sleep center.3.In Guangzhou,the overall score of OSA knowledge tests increased with higher perceived importance and confidence in diagnosis and treatment of OSA among medical professionals.