Commentary: Introduction to the Special Issue on Pediatric Behavioral Sleep Medicine

2013

Brett Kuhn
[email protected]
402-559-5761

The discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (Aserinsky & Kleitman, 1953) served as a springboard for studying sleep and sleep disorders. Research continues to intensify nearly 60 years later, and there are now more than 1200 accredited sleep facilities world-wide. Although the clinical practice of sleep medicine has concentrated mainly on the identification and treatment of sleep apnea in adults, there are now more than 80 recognized sleep-related disorders. The majority of these disorders are experienced both by adults and children, but the clinical manifestations, evaluation methods, diagnostic criteria, and treatments differ greatly across the two populations. For example, the etiology of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in adults is highly associated with obesity, but in children OSA is more often linked to craniofacial abnormalities, neuromuscular disorders, and adenotonsillar hypertrophy (Hoban & Chervin, 2005).

Peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journals Published/In Press

Consumers/Families, Professionals, Policymakers, Students

[email protected]

N/A