12th Annual UCLA Sleep Medicine Course: Sleep Disturbances Across the Life Cycle

12th Annual UCLA Sleep Medicine Course: Sleep Disturbances Across the Life Cycle is organized by David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) at UCLA, Office of Continuing Medical Education and will be held on Jan 12, 2019 at Neuroscience Research Building, Los Angeles, California, United States of America. This CME Conference has been approved for a maximum of  4.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.

Target Audience:
This course will target clinicians and healthcare providers who regularly encounter patients with sleep complaints. Given the focus this year on sleep disturbances across the life cycle of patients, the course is particularly useful to family physicians, primary care physicians, internists, pediatricians, obstetricians and gynecologists, neurologists, geriatric medicine specialists, psychiatrists, psychologists and other specialists who are likely to encounter patients with sleep disturbances.

Course Description:
Physicians in all areas of medicine encounter patients who complain of disturbed sleep. The purpose of this course is to help clinicians identify and treat major sleep disorders as they present across the life cycle from childhood to older age. Pediatricians are often challenged by a variety of sleep disorders in their patients ranging from insomnia and circadian rhythm disorders to sleep apnea and sleepiness. In fact, data show that symptoms of narcolepsy first begin during adolescence, yet the majority of patients are incorrectly diagnosed or treated. Sleep disorders in pregnancy consist of restless legs syndrome, worsening of sleep apnea symptoms and insomnia. Menopause is likely to be associated with insomnia which perpetuates poor sleep into older age. Older patients sometimes present with depression and cognitive disturbances which are occasionally attributable to disturbed sleep.

Discussion of sleep problems unique to each age group will be presented including chronic insomnia, excessive sleepiness and narcolepsy, sleep apnea, parasomnias and restless legs syndrome.

A major goal of the course is to provide practitioners with current updates and clinical pearls to help them differentiate between multiple causes of sleepiness and insomnia in specific age groups, including disturbed sleep in the setting of childhood, adolescence, pregnancy, menopause and dementia.

Course Objectives are:
• Formulate a practical approach for management of the major sleep disorders in adults including insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea and abnormal motor activity during sleep, including restless legs syndrome.
• Appreciate the causes of sleepiness in children, adults and older persons.
• Identify issues and challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric sleep disorders, especially sleep apnea.
• Identify the differential diagnosis of excessive daytime somnolence and recognize the specific clinical presentation of narcolepsy.
• Recognize the diagnostic tools available in the evaluation of narcolepsy and utilize treatment modalities currently available.