Awareness of issues related to sleep disordered breathing amongst practicing physicians

BACKGROUND: Most of the sleep related breathing disorders currently in India are both under diagnosed and under treated. The exact prevalence of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in our country is not clearly known and this is partly due to lack of awareness amongst physicians and lack of formal epidemiological data from Indian subcontinent. Several international agencies have emphasised the urgent need for medical training at all levels in sleep medicine, so as to include an exposure to the broader aspects of sleep medicine. OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge of practicing chest physicians on the issues related to sleep disordered breathing in the local set-up. METHODS: A standardised questionnaire with strong face validity was utilised for this purpose to interview 65 physicians at their work place. RESULTS: The overall awareness about sleep disordered breathing amongst the practicing physicians in Hyderabad, Secunderabad and the neighbouring district of Warangal was poor. There was no association between professsional qualifications and level of awareness. Furthermore, the awareness was found to be similarly low both amongst young and middle aged physicians and this was statistically significant (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The overall awareness about sleep disordered breathing amongst practicing physicians in and around Hyderabad is rather poor.