Past, present, and future directions of sleep medicine in Thailand

Abstract

Sleep Medicine is a growing discipline in Thailand. The formal 2-year-sleep medicine fellowship was approved by medical council of Thailand and established under four specialties including internal medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics, and otolaryngology in 2018. Thailand has also established formal sleep technologist courses and certification examinations since 2010. Sleep Society of Thailand was established in 2009 and subsequently other sleep societies were also established. All societies contributed to the development and advancement of sleep medicine in Thailand including the development of national clinical practice guidelines. There are limited numbers of sleep laboratories in the country particularly in government settings. Fortunately, polysomnography conducted at a sleep laboratory in a government hospital is covered by most of the health care coverage programs. However, CPAP cost is only covered by the civil service welfare system, limited private health insurance, certain state enterprise or government employees. There has been an increasing number of research in the field of sleep medicine in recent years. However, multicenter, multidisciplinary, longitudinal studies in the field of sleep medicine are still lacking. Internationalization in terms of hosting international conferences and awards by the international sleep society has increased the visibility of Thailand regionally and globally. Collaboration among various disciplines is the key to advancing the field forward.