Minutes of the Annual Meeting (hybrid) of the ANSS in the European Sleep Research Society May 6-7, 2022 – Ljubljana, Slovenia 

Friday, May 6, 2022 

14.30 – 14.45: Meeting opening remarks (Ysbrand van der Werf) 

Welcoming speech, meeting is opened. Thanks to local organizer – Barbara Strazisar! 

Nice to see everyone again, partly live, partly online 

14.45 – 15:45 National Sleep Societies presentations (Chair: Peter Young) 

Presentations from the representatives attending live 

French NSS (SFRMS) reported to have national guidelines in sleep field, 3 professional training programs, 47 accredited sleep centres and 4 affiliated centers; National Sleep Conference gathered 3500 attendees in 2021. 

Greek NSS reported official recognition of sleep medicine as an “adequate training in sleep medicine” for a number of specializations, official recognition for technicians and accreditation of sleep centres by the Ministry of Health, relaunch of the web page, preparations for the Sleep Europe 2022 in Athens. 

Austrian NSS reported to have made a new website. 

Hungarian NSS reported several face-to-face joint events with other professional societies in 2022, the national congress is postponed till September 2022. 

German NSS (DGSM) is reported to have 2300 members, a well-defined structure of the society with two paid employees; 320 DGSM-certified sleep labs (with recertification taking place every 2 years), 2 certification exams (one by DGSM – for physicians, psychologists, scientists and technologists, and second by the Chamber of physicians – for physicians), annual conferences (2020 and 2021 in virtual format; in 2022 in person). 

Dutch NSS reported having three Dutch sleep societies (SVNL, Kind&Slaap, and NSWO), biannual National Sleep Congress, every three years the International Sleep Medicine Course, education in sleep field at all levels of professional degrees. 

Armenian NSS reported an increase in PTSD and sleep due to recent border struggles, and publications related to Kleine-Levin syndrome. 

Swiss NSS reported the establishment of the “Special Interest Groups”, 34 centres of sleep medicine, wide implementation of online activities 

Slovenian NSS reported 30 members,  2 accredited sleep centres, 2 affiliated sleep centres and 2 centres for sleep-disordered breathing. 

Czech NSS – not present 

 16:15 – 17:30: National Sleep Societies presentations (Chair: Oana Deleanu) 

Presentations from the representatives attending online 

Romanian NSS reported several challenges, including large number of underdiagnosed and undertreated patients, lack of sleep specialists, political inconsistency regarding sleep disorders. 

Spanish NSS reported to have established award “Joaquin Teran and Mari Luz Alonso” and research grants. Irish NSS reported facilitation of sleep services in private sector due to the increased need for home sleep studies and CPAP initiation recognized by the Healthcare Insurance Providers; publication of Joint guidelines on sleep services and CPAP/NIV use during COVID-19 (2020). 

Lithuanian NSS (33 members) reported to have held an important meeting on pediatric sleep “Kid’s sleep – mission (im)possible”; reimbursement is only available for BiPAP/ASV and central sleep apnea. 

Croatian NSS (approx.. 40 members), has a separate section of sleep technologists, is setting up a new master program in sleep 

Russian NSS announced the sad parting of Ivan N. Pigarev, has held face-to-face annual congress in March 2022. 

Norwegian NSS holds 6 online meetings per year; is a member of Norwegian  Brain Council, interspecialty competence in sleep medicine is being discussed. 

Slovakian NSS (98 members) reported to have held a joint Czech and Slovak Congress of Sleep Medicine in 2021, to have a certification course in sleep, have published a textbook in 2021.  

Icelandic NSS has reported to have organized a one-month (2021) campaign with Directorate of Health to promote sleep, focusing on delayed school start times for teenagers;  a seminar related to the World Sleep Day; a huge sleep conference for the general population in May; the Nordic sleep congress is scheduled for 2023 in Reykjavik. 

Estonian NSS (30 members) reported the sleep-related procedures which are currently reimbursed (respiratory polygraphy since 2018, transcutaneous capnography since 2019), have published national guidelines on sleep diagnostics in primary care, development of myofunctional therapy for sleep apnea in children. 

Turkish NSS (1474 members) has differentiated membership (main, associate and honorary). 

Belgian NSS reported to have conducted 2 annual meeting in spring and autumn; a CBT-I meeting in February 2022 and the ISMC (International Sleep Medicine Course) in 2021. 

Serbian NSS reported activities related to the World Sleep Day. 

Portuguese NSS reported a variety of entertainment activities related to the World Sleep Day.  

British NSS held biennial scientific congress in 2021, Symposium at the 5th Clinical Update Sleep (March 2021), Webinar on non-CPAP therapy in 2021, one day course “Introduction to polygraphy” in March 2022. 

Based on the voting the following presentations were awarded: 

1. French NSS 30 Votes 

1. British NSS 13 votes 

1. Armenian/Portuguese NSSs 9 votes 

 Saturday, May 7, 2022  

9:00 – 10.30 ANSS ongoing projects (Chair: Morten Engstrøm) 

National Sleep Societies Survey (Lyudmila Korostovtseva) 

Surveys not complete: about 10 missing (to contact societies individually after the meeting). 

The numbers of members are growing (n=8254). 42% NSSs had annual events in the last year, 25% – performed events in relation to World Sleep Day.  

ESRS examination and textbook feedback: the exam is officially recognized in 7 countries, is not recognized but appreciated in 3 countries. 

Topics of interest for future collaboration: telemedicine and guidelines/joint statement; joint conferences; reimbursement issues 

 Telemedicine (Oana Deleanu) 

Surveys were not complete, and some countries filled in twice with conflicting results (to contact societies individually after the meeting, and set up 10-15-minute teleconsultations to discuss discrepancies) 

 Paediatric Sleep (Barbara Stražišar) 

Surveys are not complete, and also unclear for some countries how to count child sleep centres that are part of adult centres (maybe also do short teleconsultations to sort out the discrepancies). 

Beyond Boundaries (Samson Khachatryan) 

Ongoing, hope to recruit new countries and increase interaction.  

 Daylight Saving Time around the world (Barbara Stražišar )  

Unclear what is happening in Europe. In the voting in 2019, the majority voted for constant time, 2 countries were against/unsure (Sweden, Ireland). USA will adopt standard summertime; so it is better to wait and see what happens there (‘an experiment with n=300 Million’….) before we propose new action within Europe.