Sleep assessment

Abstract

Sleep assessment is an important part of health evaluation. During the last several decades, our knowledge about sleep exponentially expanded, and many subjective and objective tools are now available for use. Many of the subjective tools initially were developed for research use; however, they are now used in clinical arena. Many of these tools or approaches are translated to many languages and are validated for use. In this chapter, with the help of experts in fields of pediatric and adult sleep medicine, we concisely review many tools that are in use. In this chapter, an extensive reference list is provided for the readers as space does not allow to extensively review each tool. The discussion about the tools is divided to sections according to what each tool is intended to measure. In contrast to subjective tools, objective tools require up-to-date medical equipment, properly trained technical staff, and experienced sleep professionals to provide the services. Advancement in technology has significantly facilitated use of sleep tools. Telehealth technologies specifically have improved access to sleep services for diagnosis and management of sleep disorders.