Catatonia knowledge in medical practitioners from low-resource settings

Catatonia is a neuropsychiatric emergency that requires rapid intervention to prevent complications. It is unclear whether African medical practitioners have the requisite knowledge to identify and manage catatonia.

To examine knowledge of catatonia among medical practitioners across partnering institutions of the African Catatonia Registry (ACR), a multi-country resource for research in Africa.

The study was conducted among medical practitioners across the ACR partnering institutions.

The study was a descriptive, cross-sectional online survey comprising 63 questions to examine knowledge of catatonia. Responses were scored with a positive mark if correct and a negative mark if wrong, then standardised and dichotomised to indicate low or sufficient knowledge.

Out of 321 participants, nearly half (46.7%) were psychiatrists, and 50.8% had sufficient knowledge of catatonia. Multivariate analysis showed that knowledge varied by sub-domain, country, specialty and prior experience with catatonia. Specialisation in psychiatry was significantly associated with sufficient knowledge of classification (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] 2.15 [95% confidence intervals {CI}: 1.35-3.43]), diagnostic symptoms (aRR = 3.30 [95% CI: 1.62-6.69]), screening (aRR = 4.72 [95% CI: 2.25-9.91]) and rating scales (aRR = 3.34 [95% CI: 1.32-8.46]). Prior experience with catatonia was also associated with sufficient knowledge across these areas (all p ≤ 0.05).

While knowledge of catatonia and its diagnostic criteria is sufficient among practitioners, knowledge of its symptoms, treatment and complication management remains low.

The study highlights the need for the ACR to promote improvements in the identification and management of catatonia to achieve better patient outcomes.