CLEVELAND, Ohio. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — According to the Hispanic Community Health Study 14% of Hispanic men and 6% of Hispanic women have sleep apnea. With so many not catching their Z’S, one person is making a difference.
Cinthya Pena Orbea, MD, Sleep Specialist Neurological Institute at Cleveland Clinic is leading the way to help solve a problem in the Hispanic community: sleep disorders.
“It has been associated with chronic conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes and these are associated with heart disease which is one of the leading cause of deaths in the Hispanic population,” she explained.
According to the CDC, about one in three Latino adults sleep less than seven hours. In Dr. Orbea’s study, only 63% of Hispanics who get a referral for a sleep study complete it. Taking action, she opened up:
“The Hispanic Asleep Clinic at Lutheran Hospital which is part of the Cleveland Clinic,” she told Ivanhoe.
About 44% of Hispanic patients say communication issues like language, leads to worse health outcomes — this new clinic provides bilingual and bicultural services from start to finish.
“They’re able to feel that provider-patient concordance which is very important,” Dr. Orbea explained.
And so far?
“The common comment that I get is they wish they could get this type of services from different specialties,” she said.
Now she plans to continue her research on why the Hispanic community struggles with sleep apnea.
“To talk to different people from urban areas, rural areas people who have access to health care, people who don’t have access to health care,” Dr. Orbea told Ivanhoe.
By the way, this clinic offers these services to anyone who asks to be seen, not just Hispanics.
Dr. Orbea says the clinic will treat all types of sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia and many others. She hopes that this clinic will expand to other Cleveland Clinics.
Contributors to this news report include: Cliff Tumetel, Producer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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Sources:
https://foundation.aasm.org/sleep-health-in-the-hispanic-latinx-community/
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Beth Hertz
Senior Manager of Corporate Communications at Cleveland Clinic
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