PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Raissa Aoun
AU  - Victor Zibara
AU  - Christy Costanian
AU  - Hrayr Attarian
AU  - Sola Aoun Bahous
TI  - Sleep Medicine Knowledge Among Graduating Medical Students in Lebanon During an Economic and Political Crisis
AID  - 10.1101/2021.07.09.451820
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.07.09.451820
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/07/10/2021.07.09.451820.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/07/10/2021.07.09.451820.full
AB  - Objectives Sleep disorders are prevalent and underrecognized during both economic and political crises. They are a major reason for poor overall health and decreased quality of life. Sleep medicine education is limited at most medical schools, resulting in limited awareness of this important aspect of healthcare. The aim of the study is to assess sleep medicine knowledge of graduating medical students in Lebanon and to assess their readiness to tackle sleep health issues in a country during an unprecedented crisis.Methods Final-year medical students at 7 medical schools in Lebanon were invited to fill a survey between January 2020 and March 2021. The Assessment of Sleep Knowledge in Medical Education survey was used to assess their knowledge in sleep medicine. The curriculum organizers at the medical schools were also surveyed. Student’s t-test was used for analysis.Results 158 and 58 students completed the survey during 2020 and 2021, with a mean overall score on sleep knowledge of was 17.5 and 15.9 /30, respectively. There was no difference in mean knowledge scores by gender, age, American versus European medical school systems, and between medical schools that included sleep medicine in their curriculum versus those that did not.Conclusions Presence of sleep medicine education in the curriculum was associated with higher scores on ASKME among graduating Lebanese medical students. Overall, the new crop of physicians in Lebanon possesses a relatively good knowledge base in sleep medicine. Nevertheless, more effort should be made to uniformly maintain this level of sleep education.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.ASKMEAssessment of Sleep Knowledge in Medical EducationIOMThe Institute of MedicineNBMENational Board of Medical ExaminersUSUnited StatesUSMLEUnited States Medical Licensing Examination