Aim: To assess the knowledge and attitudes regarding sleep medicine among second-year medical students and physicians.
Methods: A total of 112 respondents were surveyed for their attitude and knowledge regarding sleep medicine and hypertension. The respondents were divided into three groups: 1) second-year medical students (46 or 41%); 2) physicians at postgraduate study program (26 or 23%); and 3) specialists in different fields (40 or 36%). The questionnaire was composed of the sleep medicine attitude test, sleep medicine knowledge test, and hypertension knowledge test. Differences among the groups were statistically analyzed with ANOVA, and differences within each group were analyzed with Wilcoxon test.
Results: Postgraduate students and specialists showed better knowledge in hypertension than in sleep medicine (p=0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). In the student group, no difference was found between the knowledge in hypertension and sleep medicine (p=0.192). Differences in sleep medicine knowledge were not found between medical students and specialists (p=0.228) or between postgraduates and specialists (p=0.647). Sleep medicine attitude score was similar in all groups (p=0.470). In general, there was a positive correlation between sleep medicine knowledge and attitude (p=0.002), and between hypertension knowledge and sleep medicine attitude (p=0.019).
Conclusion: Medical students, postgraduate physicians, and specialists showed poor knowledge but positive attitude toward sleep medicine. This finding points to the need for better education in the field of sleep medicine in medical schools.