As part of its Effective Health Care Program, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is seeking public comments on the draft key questions that will provide the framework for a proposed research report, Insomnia Disorder: Diagnosis and Management Outside of Sleep Medicine Clinics. 

According to a study in the Nov. 1 issue of the journal SLEEP, self-reported habitual snoring associated with daytime sleepiness increases the risk of future cardiovascular disease among older adults.

A study of 1,673 pregnant women in their third trimester found that 9 percent reported chronic snoring before and during pregnancy, which was a risk factor for elective cesarean delivery (odds ratio = 2.25) and small-for-gestational age (OR = 1.65)

A survey of 107 program directors of nationally accredited polysomnography, electroneurodiagnostic technology, and respiratory care educational programs assessed the community and educational needs for sleep technologists.  

The World Medical Associate has approved new revisions to the Declaration of Helsinki, the ethical guidelines for medical research involving human subjects. The revisions are similar to the draft version that was published in April. A full summary of the updates to the Declaration of Helsinki have been published in JAMA, along with an editorial about the changes.

A study of 2,673 patients in Australia found that untreated obstructive sleep apnea is associated with an increased risk of motor vehicle crashes in very sleepy men as well as near-misses in men and women. Participants with untreated OSA reported crashes at a rate three times higher than the general community.  The results are published in the Oct. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

A study of 2,240 adults is the first to examine the link between obstructive sleep apnea and mortality in Asians. Results in the Oct. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine show that all-cause mortality risk was 2.5 times higher and cardiovascular mortality risk was more than four times higher among people with severe OSA. The results are consistent with previous studies in the U.S. and other countries.

On Sept. 23, 2013, the 36th meeting of the Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board was held at the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research in Bethesda, Md. Dr. Sairam Parthasarathy chaired the meeting, and NCSDR Director Dr. Michael Twery gave a presentation on Inter-agency activities, Healthy People 2020, and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) initiatives and events. Other presenters provided updates on the Joint SRS/AASM Research Task Force; the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative; the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating Study (FLASHE); and emerging TransNIH interest in sleep and pain research.

Lifestyle and dietary interventions promoting weight loss improve obstructive sleep apnea parameters but are insufficient to normalize them, according to a literature review and meta-analysis in the October issue of the journal SLEEP.

A CDC study in the October issue of the journal Sleep reports that both short and long sleep durations are significantly associated with leading chronic diseases such as obesity, frequent mental distress, coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes.