Australian Rotary Health

Ron Grunstein is currently Professor of Sleep Medicine and Health, Sleep and Circadian Research Group, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research at the University of Sydney, Australia. He also heads the NHMRC Centre for Integrated Research and Understanding of Sleep (CIRUS) and the NHMRC Australasian Sleep Trials Network. He has been a Practitioner Fellow of the NHMRC since 2002.

 

He has a staff clinical appointment in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and an honorary appointment at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. He has a strong interest in translational clinical research in sleep health and was involved in the early development of nasal CPAP and non –invasive ventilator support for sleep-breathing disorders. His current main interests involve in metabolic and neurobiological effects of sleep loss. As well, he leads research in the simplification of sleep apnea diagnosis and new treatment interventions in sleep disorders.

 

Professor Grunstein has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and other overseas universities. He has a long standing interest in health communication through the media and in 2008 was appointed a Public Member of the Australia Press Council. Prof Grunstein also serves as chief medical advisor to Sleep Disorders Australia, the roof advocacy body for patients with sleep disorders. He has also advised Australian, British and EU road regulatory bodies on sleep disorders and is Associate Editor of Sleep and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Sleep Research, Sleep Medicine Reviews, Sleep Medicine and Respiratory Research.

 

Adolescence is a critical period for the development of sleep disorders. Current estimates show that around 1 million Australian adolescents experience sleep disorders. Left untreated, sleep problems tent to persist, impacting the lives of youth and families, placing young people at increased risk of future psychiatric conditions as obesity and cardio-vascular complications. The individual and societal cost is significant, making early detection, treatment and prevention critical. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is established as a first-line treatment for sleep disorders in adults, however little is known about successfully treating sleep disorders in high school-aged young people.

 

The main aim of this research is to conduct the first randomised controlled trial of a new group-based CBT sleep intervention for adolescents against a waitlist control condition. Participants attend an initial diagnostic interview at the Institute’s newly established adolescent sleep clinic and those that meet inclusion criteria are invited to participate in the study. Participants are randomly allocated to either start the 7 – week treatment program straight away, or after a 7 – week waitlist period. To assess the effect of treatment participants complete outcome measures (questionnaires, sleep diaries and actigraphy) immediately after completing treatment (or the wait period), and again 3 months later.

 

This is the first project to conduct a randomised controlled trial of CBT for adolescent sleep disorders. Results will provide a new and effective evidence-based treatment and significantly advance our understanding of how sleep disorders impact the mood, daytime functioning and externalising behaviour in adolescents. Considering the prevalence and chronicity of sleep disorders in adolescence, intervention during this developmentally-sensitive period will reduce the incidence and severity of mental ill-health in young people and associated distress and disability. Most importantly, by intervening in childhood our treatments will prevent the later development of serious psychiatric and/or physical illness that have been linked with childhood sleep problems, thereby enhancing the long-term outcomes of young Australians and reducing the associated societal burden.

 

Further details are available at www.woolcock.org.au (click on adolescent sleep).