title: Sleep disorders: an overview.
abstract: Although sleep disorders medicine is a relatively young discipline, understanding of the diagnosis, pathophysiology, and treatment of sleep disorders is evolving at a rapid pace. This overview discusses the history of the development of sleep disorders medicine, tracing changes in the diagnostic classification of sleep disorders as well as the role of polysomnography in diagnosis. This evolution is most evident for insomnia, one of the major sleep disturbances. The accumulation of epidemiologic data on the prevalence and temporal course of insomnia and emerging information regarding its pathophysiology derived from laboratory assessments have led to the development of new therapeutic approaches for primary insomnia and insomnia associated with medical and psychiatric disorders.
authors.affiliation: Sleep Disorders and Research Center, Henry Ford Hospital, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan 48202, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Roehrs
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Roth
mesh_terms: D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D017286:Polysomnography; D012307:Risk Factors; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy