CREAM – A disorder that affects a vast segment of the population and which leads 1,500 people from Crema every year to ask for help from the center specialized in treating insomnia: 800 of them are then followed up with a specific therapy. Yesterday was World Sleep Day.
«An important part of our life – underlines the director of the complex respiratory rehabilitation unit of Asst Crema, Joseph Emmanuel La Piana –: occupies about a third of it. That’s why we have to take care of it.”
For sleep disorders Santa Marta is a regional reference center, recognized by the Italian Society of Sleep Medicine and by the Hospital Pulmonology Society.
«The numerically most important pathology that is treated is that of sleep apnea – adds La Piana -: it is the repeated interruption of breathing during the night. It occurs when these events exceed the number of five per night. On the other hand, when sleep disturbed by apneas causes attention deficits and hypersomnolence in the patient and has a real impact of social relevance, a syndrome is configured. It affects 5 to 10 percent of the general male population and 2 to 10 percent of the female population nationwide.».
Sleep disorder puts you at risk of heart attackbut also exposes the possibility of road accidents. This is why it needs to be treated early.
Alessandra Besozziwho takes care of patients, recalls that in Rivolta a service dedicated to the little ones, «In collaboration with the otorhinolaryngology operating unit, we also treat pathologies in the pediatric age group. Videopolysonography is carried out, an exam for which the garrison is the ATS reference center of the Po Valley. The children sent to us are mostly candidates for adenotonsillar surgery, which can give sleep apnea among its symptoms, but these can also be a symptom of psychomotor retardation. For this reason, the examination is also often of help to child neuropsychiatrists for the diagnosis of these disorders”.
The unit is also active in an important awareness-raising activity on the subject. «For three years – continues La Piana – we have been among the promoters of a conference at national level». Stopped due to Covid, the appointment, in its third edition, will be held at the Mamu multicentre in Mantuaalso organized online with the hospitals of Mantua and Cremona and Ats Val Padana, is scheduled for May 6: Sleep disorders, a clinical, technological and organizational epidemiological challenge towards a prevention model of the future. The conference aims “to raise awareness among health professionals as well – concludes the specialist -. Because on the subject it is essential to create culture. At all levels.”
