Research

The following is a list of the Research Projects being conducted at the Youthdale Child and Adolescent Sleep Unit (Y), Youthdale Treatment Centre and the International Sleep Clinic in Parry Sound (PS):

Glaucoma is an eye disease where a build-up of pressure within the eye can damage the optic nerve, progressively getting worse and in some cases causing blindness. Our hope is to explore the relationship between glaucoma and the sleep condition known as sleep apnea. Those interested in being considered for this study must already have been diagnosed with glaucoma and will be interviewed with one of our specialist and be asked to undergo a screening sleep study.

Please contact Nancy at 416-603-5723 to inquire about the screening process and how you can join.

THAT

The Toronto Hospital Alertness Test (THAT) - is a 10-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure perceived alertness in the preceding week. The exact version of the scale was published in the original paper by C.M. Shapiro; C. Auch; M. Reimer; L. Kayumov; R. Heslegrave; N. Huterer; H. Driver; G.M. Devins. "A new approach to the construct of alertness." Journal of Psychosomatic Research (June 2006), 60 (6), pg. 595-603

See The Toronto Hospital Alertness Test (THAT) in:

English Dutch French Canadian FinnishSwedishSlovakiaCzech Republic German Hungarian Persian Polish Russian Latvian

STOP BANG

Our team has participated in the development of the STOP BANG, a screening questionnaire for OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea).  This questionnaire has been administered to about 2500 patients at the Toronto Western and Mount Sinai hospitals.  The STOP BANG consists of only 8 questions and was found to be very sensitive in detecting moderate and severe OSA, respectively.  The STOP BANG takes only a few minutes to complete and is easy to score.  Answering 'yes' to three or more items suggests that one is at greater risk of having OSA.
This version is in common usage. The STOP BANG has been translated into several languages including Bengali, Arabic, Tagalog (Filipino), Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Ukrainian.

The exact version was published in the original paper by Frances Chung, F.R.C.P.C.,* Balaji Yegneswaran, M.B.B.S., Pu Liao, M.D., Sharon A. Chung, Ph.D., Santhira Vairavanathan, M.B.B.S., Sazzadul Islam, M.Sc., Ali Khajecdehi, M.D., Colin M. Shapiro, F.R.C.P.C. “STOP Questionnaire. A Tool To Screen Patients for Obstructive Sleep Apnea” Anesthesiology 2008; 108:1-1

See STOP BANG QUESTIONNAIRE in:

English ArabicBengaliCantonese   MandarinHebrewHindiGreek Tagalog Portuguese RussianSerbo-CroatianSlovakUkrainian Latvian

Child and Adolescent Sleep

• Sleep and Circadian Rhythms in children and adolescents with Visual Impairment (Y)
• Sleep and Circadian Rhythms  in children and adolescents diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (Y)
• An observational study of the presence of sleep disorders in children and adolescents on the In-Patient Psychiatry Unit (Y)
• Frequency of obstructive sleep apnea in pediatric patients with adenotonsillar hypertrophy (Y)
• Normalization of daytime measures of sleepiness (Multiple Sleep Latency Test) in children and adolescents (Y)
• A Clinical Trial on Antidepressants in the Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Major Depression ( PS)

Sleep and Circadian Rhythms

• Adult ADHD and circadian rhythm disorders
• Sleep, Circadian Rhythms and Suicide in Northern-dwelling Aboriginal Adolescents
• Prevention of Circadian Rhythm Disruption by Nocturnal Light Exposure in nurses and shift workers

Investigations of Sleepiness, Fatigue or Alertness

• Validation of the 7-item Fatigue scale
• SOREMs in Sleep Disorder Patients: Association with Sleepiness and Alertness 

Mood

• Incidence of sleep disorders, fatigue, sleepiness and depression in patients about to have an anesthetic who have no prior sleep complaints.
• Cognitive Behavioral Insomnia Therapy for treatment of insomnia and depression
• Cytokines and depression 

Metabolism

• Moderate Exercise and Bright Light Treatment in Overweight Individuals: A follow up study with exploration of mechanisms.

Sleep Apnea

• Understanding and Improving Adherence to CPAP
• The Impact of fatigue and gender on blood pressure fall with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) (PS)
• Hypertension and OSA follow-up study (PS) 

Forensic Sleep Medicine

• Sleep Abnormalities in Sex Offenders