Introduction​

Lack of sleep or disruption of sleep has many medical, therapeutic and safety ramifications that are relevant to primary care. These issues include:

• high rates of fatigue (a more common presenting symptom of sleep disorder than sleepiness per se)
• cardiac and vascular complications
• higher risk of driving accidents
• compromised immune function
• more rapid deterioration in many medical conditions due to disrupted sleep
• prevention of the full action of medical treatments for hypertension, cardiac failure, mood disorders and epilepsy
• in children, an erroneous diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which can hinder recovery and affect academic performance, socialization and long-term function