According to a speaker at the 2023 ACP Internal Medicine Meeting, sleep disorders are more prevalent than previously thought and can have serious health consequences. To effectively catch sleep disorders, clinicians should utilize screening questionnaires, which can help identify 90% of patients with sleep disorders. Key questions to ask include the patient’s sleep schedule, specific complaints, and issues with excessive daytime sleepiness, fatigue, memory impairment, irritability, behavioral issues, reduced motivation, energy, and errors or accidents. Other useful questionnaires include the Epworth Sleepiness Score, Insomnia Severity Index, STOP BANG, URGE, and Fatigue Severity Scale. The most common sleep disorder is obstructive sleep apnea, followed by chronic insomnia and narcolepsy. Women have a higher risk of insomnia than men, and obstructive sleep apnea is as common as diabetes and asthma. To improve outcomes, clinicians must look beyond basic sleep hygiene and consider the broader context of sleep disorders.
