Abbreviation | AASM |
---|---|
Formation | 1975 |
Type | Professional Association |
Headquarters | Darien, IL |
Location |
|
Membership | 11,000 [1] |
Official language | English |
President | Eric J. Olson, MD [2] |
Website | aasm |
Formerly called | American Sleep Disorders Association |
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) is a United States professional society for the medical subspecialty of sleep medicine which includes disorders of circadian rhythms. It was established in 1975.
The organization's functions include the accreditation of sleep medicine facilities in the United States. According to the AASM, the organization issued its first accreditation to a sleep disorders center in 1977 (April 27, Sleep-Wake Disorders Center, Montefiore Medical Center, New York), [3] and by 2024 had accredited more than 2,300 sleep facilities across the U.S, Canada, and U.S. territories. [4]
Membership is open to U.S. and international physicians, researchers, advanced practice providers, dentists, psychologists, respiratory therapists, sleep technologists and other health care professionals who are involved in the study, diagnosis and treatment of disorders of sleep and daytime alertness. [5]
The AASM publishes the International Classification of Sleep Disorders, which serves as a guide to clinicians in the identification of specific sleep disorders. The current edition is the third edition, text revision (ICSD-3-TR) that was published in 2023. [6] The AASM also publishes The AASM Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events: Rules, Terminology and Technical Specifications, the definitive reference for the evaluation of polysomnography (PSG) and a home sleep apnea test (HSAT). This resource provides rules for scoring sleep stages, arousals, respiratory events during sleep, movements during sleep and cardiac events. It also provides standard montages, electrode placements and digitization parameters. The current version 3 was released in 2023. [7]
The latest findings in sleep medicine are published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, the official peer-reviewed journal of the AASM. Published monthly, JCSM includes original clinical research, clinical reviews, case studies and opinion pieces from prominent sleep researchers on circadian rhythms and sleep science. [8]
The AASM also publishes clinical practice guidelines, position papers, position statements, and consensus statements and papers to provide recommendations to clinicians for the evaluation, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of sleep and circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders. The clinical practice guidelines are developed by a task force of experts who perform a systematic review of all published evidence on the topic. The evidence is then assessed using The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. [9]
The SLEEP annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC (APSS) is a joint venture of the AASM and the Sleep Research Society. The meeting attracts about 5,000 attendees each year. Research abstracts from each SLEEP meeting are published annually in a supplement of Sleep , the peer-reviewed publication of the SRS. [10] SLEEP 2024, the 38th annual meeting of the APSS, was held in June in Houston, Texas. [11]
Founded in 1998, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable and scientific organization that was established by the AASM. Formerly the American Sleep Medicine Foundation (ASMF), the AASM Foundation has invested in the future of sleep medicine by supporting more than 360 awards totaling over $27.6 million in funding. Its portfolio includes Strategic Research Awards and Career Development Awards. [12]
A sleep disorder, or somnipathy, is a medical disorder of an individual's sleep patterns. Some sleep disorders are severe enough to interfere with normal physical, mental, social and emotional functioning. Sleep disorders are frequent and can have serious consequences on patients' health and quality of life. Polysomnography and actigraphy are tests commonly ordered for diagnosing sleep disorders.
A respiratory therapist is a specialized healthcare practitioner trained in critical care and cardio-pulmonary medicine in order to work therapeutically with people who have acute critical conditions, cardiac and pulmonary disease. Respiratory therapists graduate from a college or university with a degree in respiratory therapy and have passed a national board certifying examination. The NBRC is responsible for credentialing as a CRT, or RRT,
Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, irritability, and a depressed mood. It may result in an increased risk of accidents of all kinds as well as problems focusing and learning. Insomnia can be short term, lasting for days or weeks, or long term, lasting more than a month. The concept of the word insomnia has two possibilities: insomnia disorder (ID) and insomnia symptoms, and many abstracts of randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews often underreport on which of these two possibilities the word insomnia refers to.
Delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD), more often known as delayed sleep phase syndrome and also as delayed sleep–wake phase disorder, is the delaying of a person's circadian rhythm compared to those of societal norms. The disorder affects the timing of biological rhythms including sleep, peak period of alertness, core body temperature, and hormonal cycles.
Nightmare disorder is a sleep disorder characterized by repeated intense nightmares that most often center on threats to physical safety and security. The nightmares usually occur during the REM stage of sleep, and the person who experiences the nightmares typically remembers them well upon waking. More specifically, nightmare disorder is a type of parasomnia, a subset of sleep disorders categorized by abnormal movement or behavior or verbal actions during sleep or shortly before or after. Other parasomnias include sleepwalking, sleep terrors, bedwetting, and sleep paralysis.
Chronotherapy is a behavioural treatment that attempts to move bedtime and rising time later and later each day, around the clock, until a person is sleeping on a normal schedule. This treatment can be used by people with delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD), who generally cannot reset their circadian rhythm by moving their bedtime and rising time earlier. DSPD is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder, characterised by a mismatch between a person's internal biological clock and societal norms. Chronotherapy uses the human phase response to light or melatonin. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended chronotherapy for the treatment of circadian rhythm and sleep disorders.
Sleep hygiene is a behavioral and environmental practice developed in the late 1970s as a method to help people with mild to moderate insomnia. Clinicians assess the sleep hygiene of people with insomnia and other conditions, such as depression, and offer recommendations based on the assessment. Sleep hygiene recommendations include: establishing a regular sleep schedule, using naps with care, not exercising physically too close to bedtime, limiting worry, limiting exposure to light in the hours before sleep, getting out of bed if sleep does not come, not using bed for anything but sleep and sex, avoiding alcohol in the hours before bedtime, and having a peaceful, comfortable and dark sleep environment.
Non-24-hour sleep–wake disorder is one of several chronic circadian rhythm sleep disorders (CRSDs). It is defined as a "chronic steady pattern comprising [...] daily delays in sleep onset and wake times in an individual living in a society". Symptoms result when the non-entrained (free-running) endogenous circadian rhythm drifts out of alignment with the light–dark cycle in nature. Although this sleep disorder is more common in blind people, affecting up to 70% of the totally blind, it can also affect sighted people. Non-24 may also be comorbid with bipolar disorder, depression, and traumatic brain injury. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has provided CRSD guidelines since 2007 with the latest update released in 2015.
Polysomnography (PSG) is a multi-parameter type of sleep study and a diagnostic tool in sleep medicine. The test result is called a polysomnogram, also abbreviated PSG. The name is derived from Greek and Latin roots: the Greek πολύς, the Latin somnus ("sleep"), and the Greek γράφειν.
Ramelteon, sold under the brand name Rozerem among others, is a melatonin agonist medication which is used in the treatment of insomnia. It is indicated specifically for the treatment of insomnia characterized by difficulties with sleep onset. It reduces the time taken to fall asleep, but the degree of clinical benefit is small. The medication is approved for long-term use. Ramelteon is taken by mouth.
Michel Valentin Marcel Jouvet was a French neuroscientist and medical researcher.
Circadian rhythm sleep disorders (CRSD), also known as circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders (CRSWD), are a family of sleep disorders which affect the timing of sleep. CRSDs arise from a persistent pattern of sleep/wake disturbances that can be caused either by dysfunction in one's biological clock system, or by misalignment between one's endogenous oscillator and externally imposed cues. As a result of this mismatch, those affected by circadian rhythm sleep disorders have a tendency to fall asleep at unconventional time points in the day. These occurrences often lead to recurring instances of disturbed rest, where individuals affected by the disorder are unable to go to sleep and awaken at "normal" times for work, school, and other social obligations. Delayed sleep phase disorder, advanced sleep phase disorder, non-24-hour sleep–wake disorder and irregular sleep–wake rhythm disorder represents the four main types of CRSD.
The International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD) is "a primary diagnostic, epidemiological and coding resource for clinicians and researchers in the field of sleep and sleep medicine". The ICSD was produced by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) in association with the European Sleep Research Society, the Japanese Society of Sleep Research, and the Latin American Sleep Society. The classification was developed as a revision and update of the Diagnostic Classification of Sleep and Arousal Disorders (DCSAD) that was produced by both the Association of Sleep Disorders Centers (ASDC) and the Association for the Psychophysiological Study of Sleep and was published in the journal Sleep in 1979. A second edition, called ICSD-2, was published by the AASM in 2005. The third edition, ICSD-3, was released by the AASM in 2014. A text revision of the third edition (ICSD-3-TR) was published in 2023 by the AASM.
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 of, 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 physicians who treat patients may be the same people.
The respiratory disturbance index (RDI)—or respiratory distress Index—is a formula used in reporting polysomnography findings. Like the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), it reports on respiratory distress events during sleep, but unlike the AHI, it also includes respiratory-effort related arousals (RERAs). RERAs are arousals from sleep that do not technically meet the definitions of apneas or hypopneas, but do in some way disrupt breathing during sleep and cause respiratory symptoms that may cause an arousal.
Irregular sleep–wake rhythm disorder (ISWRD) is a rare form of circadian rhythm sleep disorder. It is characterized by numerous naps throughout the 24-hour period, no main nighttime sleep episode, and irregularity from day to day. Affected individuals have no pattern of when they are awake or asleep, may have poor quality sleep, and often may be very sleepy while they are awake. The total time asleep per 24 hours is normal for the person's age. The disorder is serious—an invisible disability. It can create social, familial, and work problems, making it hard for a person to maintain relationships and responsibilities, and may make a person home-bound and isolated.
The Sleep Research Society (SRS) is an organization that promotes the science of sleep and related disorders. Additionally, the SRS is dedicated to the training and education of future sleep researchers.
Charles Andrew Czeisler is a Hungarian-American physician and sleep and circadian researcher. He is a leading researcher and author in the fields of the effects of light on human physiology, circadian rhythms and sleep medicine.
Phyllis C. Zee is the Benjamin and Virginia T. Boshes Professor in Neurology, the director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine (CCSM) and the chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine (neurology) at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago. She is also the medical director of Sleep Disorders Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Behavioral sleep medicine (BSM) is a field within sleep medicine that encompasses scientific inquiry and clinical treatment of sleep-related disorders, with a focus on the psychological, physiological, behavioral, cognitive, social, and cultural factors that affect sleep, as well as the impact of sleep on those factors. The clinical practice of BSM is an evidence-based behavioral health discipline that uses primarily non-pharmacological treatments. BSM interventions are typically problem-focused and oriented towards specific sleep complaints, but can be integrated with other medical or mental health treatments. The primary techniques used in BSM interventions involve education and systematic changes to the behaviors, thoughts, and environmental factors that initiate and maintain sleep-related difficulties.