Sleep Medicine in Iran

The discipline of sleep medicine was first established in Iran more than 10 years ago. From 2011 universities in Iran began to offer fellowship and technician training programs in sleep medicine. It is estimated that within the next 10 years, the number of experts in this field will reach up to 100. Unfortunately, prevention and treatment of sleep disorders is not fully covered by insurance companies; however, this policy is changing towards increasing the insurance coverage. Despite the rise in the number of patients with sleep disorders, patient referral has not increased due to lack of physicians’ knowledge of this condition. However, because of increasing awareness in this field, physicians’ awareness of sleep disorder is gradually rising. At present due to absence of a suitable structured guideline for treatment and prevention of this disorder as well as lack of sufficient insurance coverage in Iran, proper treatment is not provided and most cases are treated by non-standard methods. As there are not many reputable companies offering medical equipment for sleep disorder in Iran, equipping a sleep laboratory with the essential tools is very expensive and costly.