Sleep
Continuing from last year's comprehensive coverage on this topic and ERS's specialist conference 'Sleep and Breathing 2017', this year's Congress has much to offer respiratory professionals who specialise in or who are interested in sleep related respiratory conditions.
Sleep-disordered breathing is treatable but largely undiagnosed. Despite this, no statistics are routinely collected on the associated morbidity and mortality. The most prevalent sleep condition remains to be obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), which is a major health problem throughout Europe, affecting between 3–7% of middle-aged men and 2–5% of women. Obesity hyperventilation syndrome has also been an increasing problem in recent years and the comorbidities of these conditions, as well as the associated risks linked to untreated disorders, are also prominent issues.
Chair of the ERS Clinical physiology, sleep and pulmonary circulation assembly Maria R. Bonsignore notes that "Our Assembly very actively addresses the current hot issues in sleep medicine. Currently, we have an ongoing ERS Clinical Research Collaboration on OSA (the ESADA project) and Task Forces on OSA and driving, and OSA and stroke. We also have started a new collaboration with the European Society for Swallowing Disorders (ESSD), since dysphagia is a common problem in pulmonary medicine, which may also impact on sleep due to upper airway dysfunction. This year's congress program includes a joint symposium with the European Society for Sleep Research (ESRS), continuing the close collaboration between our two societies. There are also several sessions on sleep and many educational activities."
Join the ERS Clinical physiology, sleep and pulmonary circulation assembly via our online platform myERS and ensure that you are kept up to date with developments and opportunities in this area.
Below is a list of some of the sleep focused sessions available at this year's Congress. Alternatively, you can browse the sleep programme by selecting the 'Acute and chronic respiratory failure/sleep' track on the main congress programme to see all sessions on offer, including abstract sessions.
Note: Educational sessions (postgraduate courses, skills workshops, challenging clinical cases, professional development workshops and meet the expert sessions) can be attended at an additional cost to the standard registration fee.