What is important for an internist to know about sleep?

Abstract

Introduction. A variety of patient complaints about sleep disorders and associated quality of life restrictions force patients to turn primarily to internists. Meanwhile, internist doctors often pay insufficient attention to detailing the symptoms associated with the patient's sleep state. Main purpose of the work was to systematize modern data on the relationship between sleep disorders and pathology of internal organs and to increase the awareness of internists about sleep disorders and associated diseases. Materials and methods. Literature sources were selected for the review by the keywords: sleep, sleep disorders, OSAS for the period 2003–2021 in PubMed, GoogleScholar, Web of Science databases. Results and discussion. Disorders of sleep duration and quality in patients influence the development of other internal organ pathologies. Of particular importance is the relationship of sleep disorders with nocturnal cardiac rhythm and conduction disorders, changes in daily BP profile, OSAS, nocturnal heartburn and GERD, accelerated aging. Analysis of a patient's sleep status is of great importance in the practice of an internist and can improve the prognosis for a number of diseases. Conclusion. When working with patients, internists should assess the state of sleep as a potentially modifiable risk factor for diseases of the internal organs.