Association between knowledge and attitudes towards pediatric obstructive sleep apnea and dental specialty

ABSTRACT

Objective

To associate the knowledge and attitudes about Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea (POSA) with the specialty of dentists in Metropolitan Lima, Peru.

Methods

A cross-sectional, analytical observational study was carried out during 2021–2022. Two hundred and ten orthodontists and pediatric dentists were surveyed using the adapted and validated Spanish translation of the OSAKA-KIDS questionnaire and additional sociodemographic questions.

Results

The data indicated an association between dental specialty and the professional’s knowledge about POSA. Orthodontists were 59% less likely to have acceptable knowledge, compared to pediatric dentists (p = .013, IC 95% 0.21–0.83). The study revealed an association between the professional’s attitudes and three intervening variables: age (p = .025), clinical experience (p = .049) and sector of practice (p = .020).

Conclusion

Knowledge was associated with the dental specialty of professionals in the sample included, whilst attitudes were not.

KEYWORDS:

• Sleep apnea
• Obstructive
• Child
• Knowledge
• Attitude
• Pediatric dentistry
• Orthodontics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.