title: Sleep medicine services in Saudi Arabia: The 2013 national survey.
abstract: We conducted this national survey to quantitatively assess sleep medicine services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and to identify obstacles that specialists and hospitals face, precluding the establishment of this service.
  
  
  
  A self-administered questionnaire was designed to collect the following: General information regarding each hospital, information regarding sleep medicine facilities (SFs), the number of beds, the number of sleep studies performed and obstacles to the establishment of SFs. The questionnaire and a cover letter explaining the study objectives were mailed and distributed by respiratory care practitioners to 32 governmental hospitals and 18 private hospitals and medical centers in the KSA.
  
  
  
  The survey identified 18 SFs in the KSA. The estimated per capita number of beds/year/100,000 people was 0.11 and the per capita polysomnography (PSG) rate was 18.0 PSG/year/100,000 people. The most important obstacles to the progress of sleep medicine in the KSA were a lack of trained sleep technologists and a lack of sleep medicine specialists.
  
  
  
  The sleep medicine services provided in the KSA have improved since the 2005 survey; however, these services are still below the level of service provided in developed countries. Organized efforts are needed to overcome the identified obstacles and challenges to the progress of sleep medicine in the KSA.
authors.affiliation: University Sleep Disorders Center, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, and National Plan for Science and Technology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ahmed S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Bahammam
authors.affiliation: Sleep Disorders Center, Department of Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mashni
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alsaeed
authors.affiliation: Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alahmari
authors.affiliation: Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Albalawi
authors.affiliation: University Sleep Disorders Center, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, and National Plan for Science and Technology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Munir M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Sharif
keywords: Polysomnography; quantitative assessment; sleep disorders center; sleep medicine service; sleep technologists