The first of two Adult Sleep Clinical Core Curriculum sessions will cover recent literature and further research opportunities in sleep medicine from 2:15 to 3:45 p.m. PT, Tuesday, May 20, in the Moscone Center, Esplanade Ballroom (South Building, Upper Mezzanine).

Co-chair Katherine Dudley, MD, MPH, says the session will also “reflect on areas commonly brought up in clinical practice, but that are not yet fully integrated into many other discussions.” 

The themes for the Tuesday session include:

• Sleep and aging
• Sleep and menopause
• Sleep and disadvantaged populations

Dr. Dudley, who is an instructor at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital, noted the three topics have a wide-ranging impact.

“These themes highlight how relevant sleep is to far-reaching areas of care,” she said. “We want to highlight all the recent work and the expertise of the presenters to help bring this information into clinical practice, the exam rooms, and to research.”

While the first-day session will touch upon sleep disorders and how they manifest in these three areas of care, it will also explore the definitions of healthful sleep parameters for each population.

“As sleep specialists, we sometimes struggle with [how to discuss with patients] what is normal,” Dr. Dudley said. “So, we will look at sleep very broadly. For example, what is ‘normal’ sleep during menopause? We will look at it through the lens of symptoms patients are experiencing and what we can expect from the described age-related changes or hormonal-related changes. As clinicians, this can inform our patient relationships. For researchers, we can shed light on gaps in our knowledge that could be examined.”

Time is set aside after the presentations for questions and discussion about the topics.

The Adult Sleep Clinical Core Curriculum continues with a second session in the same location (Esplanade Ballroom) from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 21.

The objectives of the Adult Sleep Clinical Core Curriculum Symposia are to integrate new sleep medicine guidelines into clinical practice, to equip clinicians to better counsel patients on treatment options available for sleep-disordered breathing, and to identify knowledge gaps in the treatment of patients with sleep-related disorders.

The ATS Clinical Core Curriculum Symposia focus on key topics in the areas of adult and pediatric pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. The topics are aligned with corresponding Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Medical Knowledge modules and designed to help clinicians stay up to date with important information relevant to their medical practices and to provide an opportunity for clinicians to evaluate their knowledge and skills while earning MOC Medical Knowledge points.

Access to recorded video of all Symposia sessions is available to conference attendees for an additional fee, and to non-attendees (both members and non-members) through a Symposia Access or an All-Access Pass. For more details and to purchase a pass, visit conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights. CME is not available for on-demand viewing.

For a full schedule of conference events, visit ats2025.d365.events. To see more conference-related news and coverage of sessions and events, visit atsconferencenews.org.