Range and Classification of Sleep Disorders

Abstract

The recognition and growth of sleep medicine as a clinical specialty is manifested by the inclusion of sleep disorders in disease classification systems from the 1970s. The task of developing a classification system for sleep disorders has been undertaken by three organizations, namely, the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and associations and societies involved in sleep medicine as a clinical discipline, most recently the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). Three different classification systems have evolved: first, with sleep disorders being added to a general coding system, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)(World Health Organization 1977, 1994, 2011); second, designed for use by mental health professionals, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)(American Psychiatric Association 1994, 2013); and third, developed by and for specialists in sleep medicine, the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD)(Association of Sleep Disorders Centers 1979, 1990, 1997; American Academy of Sleep Medicine 2005, 2014). A summary of the development of these three nosologies from the 1970s to the present is summarized in Table 2.1. In examining their development, it is important to recognize how the classification systems should, and do, evolve in response to other classification systems, as well as advances in scientific knowledge and clinical experience.