OBJECTIVETo investigate the knowledge and attitude of clinicians in the departments of pediatrics and otolaryngology to pediatric obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS), since in China, the clinicians in these two departments had closest relationship with the diagnosis and treatment of OSAHS in children.

METHODSA validated questionnaire from USA which was the obstructive sleep apnea knowledge and attitudes questionnaire in children (OSAKA-KIDS) was used and permission by original author. The questionnaire was mailed to ENT doctors and pediatricians in 43 public hospitals in Shandong province.

RESULTSOSA-KIDS in Chinese version was re-tested by 30 physicians, r = 0.92. Totally, 391 valid questionnaires (87.7%) were returned. Average of correct rate (x(-) ± s) in 18 knowledge items was 64.1% ± 19.1%. Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.76. There was no difference between ENT doctors and pediatrics in total knowledge score. However, there was significant difference in below 2 questions: ENT doctors had more correction in answer "nearly 2% of children have OSAHS" and pediatrics had more correction in answer "pediatric OSAHS may be associated with pulmonary hypertension". Only 24.3% clinicians correctly know the degree of snoring (mild to severe) was not correlated with the severity of obstructive apnea in children. Only 16.1% could correctly answer the question about cardio-respiratory monitor could not reliably detect both central and obstructive apnea in infant. Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.72 in 5 items which was about importance of disease and self-evaluation in confidence. While more than 90% clinicians stated that "As a clinical disorder OSAHS is important or very, extremely important". However, among them, only about 36% felt confident in identifying or managing children with OSAHS. Total knowledge score about OSAHS was not different by gender or specialty (P > 0.05), but more knowledge was associated with more positive attitudes overall (P < 0.05) and more elder in age or longer years in practice (r = 0.384, P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONSIt should be paid more effort to elevate the knowledge and attitude about pediatric OSAHS in pediatricians and otolaryngologists.