Why is sleep apnea so under-recognized and how can it be better detected?

The challenges:

• With the average American sleeping an hour and a half less than they did in the early 1960s and weighing 25 pounds heavier that in the 1960s, we have a “new normal.”

• With the lack of sleep health in professional education curricula, primary care providers are not taught to use sleep disorder screening tools nor do they understand the comorbid relationship of sleep apnea to other diseases.

• Professional organizations have not adopted sleep disorder screening as a standard of care in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and stroke.

A solution: Motivated to increase productivity, manage healthcare costs and optimize employee safety, corporations can integrate sleep disorder screening into their health and wellness programming.

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/need-sleep/what-can-you-do/assess-needs