"Sleep and wakefulness, both of them, when immoderate constitute disease"

(Hippocrates)

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the 11^th issue of the ESF Bulletin.

It is time to wrap-up 2024 reflecting on the achievements, the challenges faced and to set-up for a new productive year ahead. 

In the last quarter of the year, ESF organized a number of activities, including 7th Think Tank in Lugano on 1-2 October 2024 and 9th Swiss Narcolepsy Day in St Gallen on 24 October 2024.

 
The recent Think Tank focused on sleep health and the burden of sleep disorders. During the opening session devoted to the epidemiology of medical disorders, the keynote speaker Professor Albert Hofman from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston took the participants on a journey through the history of epidemiology towards the future prospects and unanswered questions. He highlighted the role of the cohort studies, the potential of epidemiological studies to identify the causes of the diseases in intact humans and its impact on public health and clinical medicine.

In this issue, we are inviting you to have a look at two recent publications based on cohort studies. 

In the first interview, Doctor Millene Camilo discusses with Professor Alan Luiz Eckeli of University of São Paulo of Brazil the results of a two-phase cross-sectional study which assessed the availability of diagnostic and treatment resources for obstructive sleep apnea within the Brazilian Unified Health System.

In the second interview by Doctor Lyudmila Korostovtseva, Professor Markus Schmidt, Medical Director of Sleep Disorders Centre in Inselspital in Bern shares the first results of the Swiss Primary Hypersomnolence and Narcolepsy Cohort Study about the digital biomarkers in narcolepsy based on the data extracted from the wearables https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsae083.

The final Bulletin of the year is an opportunity to send our Season’s greetings and to thank all our new Young Members for joining our Organization, the ESF Board Members for their continuous support and all the Readers for following our news.

More activities are planned for 2025, so please stay tuned for the news.

If you are interested in becoming part of our community, or if you would like to suggest your young fellow to join us, please do register via our online application.

May the Holiday Season end the present year on a cheerful note and make way for a bright, successful and, mostly, a peaceful 2025!

Best wishes from the YS Editorial Team

Paper of the month

"Inequalities in the access to diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea in Brazil: a cross-sectional study"

Prof. Alan Luiz Eckeli

University of São Paulo | USP · Ribeirão Preto Medical School

This study evaluated the availability and distribution of diagnostic and treatment resources for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) within Brazil's Unified Health System (SUS). We conducted a survey among sleep centers affiliated with the Brazilian Sleep Association and the Brazilian Association of Sleep Medicine to analyze care structures, diagnostic methods, and access to positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy across Brazil's five regions.

The study identified 47 centers, predominantly located in capitals and metropolises. While 70% of centers provided both diagnosis and treatment, ten Brazilian states lacked sleep services for OSA, with the North region being particularly underserved. There were wide regional disparities in the performance of 14,932 diagnostic exams annually. The Southeast led with 6,348 tests, while the North performed only 400. The average waiting times for diagnosis and treatment initiation were 11 and 8 months, respectively.

Only 56% of PAP therapies received public funding for treatment, frequently necessitating legal actions or personal expenditures. These findings highlight significant inequalities in OSA care, particularly in the North, and underline the need for targeted strategies to improve access and address regional gaps in Brazil's public health system.

Published Online (Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine): May 1, 2024
https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.10976

If you are interested in the full text, please send an email to millene.camilo@gmail.com

Paper of the month

"Inequalities in the access to diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea in Brazil: a cross-sectional study"

PD Dr med Markus Schmidt

Senior Physician, Deputy Head of sleep and Head of the Swiss Sleep House Bern

The multicenter Swiss Primary Hypersomnolence and Narcolepsy Cohort Study (SPHYNCS) is an interdisciplinary, multi-omics, prospective cohort study aimed to identify novel biomarkers for central disorders of hypersomnolence via a multidimensional approach. The paper by O. Gnarra et al. (SLEEP, 2024), presents the first results on the feasibility of long-term monitoring using the Fitbit activity tracker in patients with narcolepsy, with the main focus on adherence. Moreover, this study demonstrates that this approach can be useful to identify digital disease biomarkers in patients with the clearly defined phenotype of narcolepsy type 1 in comparison with the healthy controls, that can be used in future to improve the diagnostic process and management of patients with narcolepsy and its borderland. 

Full article: https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsae083.

Master of Advanced Studies in Sleep Medicine

The Academy of Sleep and Consciousness ASC offers unique postgraduate education which provides advanced medical and scientific insights into sleep medicine.

An international team of specialist lecturers ensure that course subject matter is on the latest scientific knowledge. The course offers a variety of efficient learning methods, such as seminars and remote online learning.

The content of the program is divided in Basic Knowledge, Advanced Knowledge and Specialization. The first part of the program Basic Knowledge contains of four modules and offers a variety of efficient learning methods, such as seminars and over 20 in-depth online lectures in order to support the knowledge transfer and to ensure a stimulating learning environment.

The participant’s professional knowledge and experience will constitute part of the teaching and learning process. Building up on part 1, the second part Advanced Knowledge consists of four online modules with over 30 in-depth online lectures. Additionally, the course teaches theoretical and practical skills in Sleep Scoring. The modules of the part Specialization offers more specific learning content depending on the student’s preferences.

The specialization topics are: Disorders and Consciousness, Pulmonology, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Neurology, Advanced Sleep Scoring, Epilepsy, Insomnia, Narcolepsy.

In addition each participant will be able to gain international working experience by completing a 2-4 weeks internship in one of our partner labs all around the world.

The MAS Thesis will be the final module in order to complete the full program.

Do you have any questions about our programs?
Please do not hesitate to contact us on info@asc.unibe.ch or visit our website www.asc.unibe.ch. 

Upcoming Events

9th Sleep Medicine School

Nicosia, CY

March 31 - April 3, 2025

European Narcolepsy Meetings 2025

Istanbul, TR

October 10-11, 2025

World Sleep Forum 2025
9th ThinkTank on Forensic Sleep Medicine

Ascona, CH

November 10-12, 2025

Sleep & Sport

Locarno, CH

January 15, 2026

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