Sleep medicine is a medical specialty or subspecialty devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of sleep disturbances and disorders. From the middle of the 20th century, research has provided increasing knowledge and answered many questions about sleep-wake functioning. The rapidly evolving field has become a recognized medical subspecialty in some countries. Dental sleep medicine also qualifies for board certification in some countries. Properly organized, minimum 12-month, postgraduate training programs are still being defined in the United States. In some countries, the sleep researchers and the doctors who treat patients may be the same people.
Sleep Apnea & SDB
The term “sleep-disordered breathing” refers to conditions where apneas and hypopneas are present during sleep.
The most common form of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), but sleep-disordered breathing also occurs in conditions experienced by patients with chest wall, neuromuscular, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or lung disease, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Because the symptoms of sleep apnea present themselves as a result of a precursor, SDB has become the general term used to describe any disease state that manifests apneas and/or hypopneas during sleep.
While the mechanisms of these apneas and hypopneas differ, a basic explanation of sleep apnea may provide the best in-road to understanding the significance of sleep-disordered breathing.
