Braga and Barcelos launch innovative project to screen for sleep apnea in homes

As part of World Sleep Day, an event that is being celebrated today, Clínica do Sono Dr. Maria José Guimarães, from Barcelos, in partnership with Braga City Council and Gasoxmed, launched a pilot project dedicated to screening for sleep apnea. sleep in elderly people living in nursing homes. In addition to diagnosis, the ‘Senior Sleep’ project includes educational activities for residents and family members, aiming to raise awareness about sleep apnea and its impacts on users’ health and quality of life.

The presentation of this innovative program took place at the Lar da Associação de Solidariedade Social São Tiago de Fraião, the institution in which the preliminary monitoring activities associated with this project have been carried out, involving a group of 32 people.

The initiative was attended by Ricardo Rio, president of Braga City Council, clinical director Maria José Guimarães, head of the Sleep Clinic, Carla Guimarães, as well as Goreti Machado, president of the São Tiago de Fraião Social Solidarity Association, and António Ferreira, general director of the company Gasoxmed.

According to Ricardo Rio, the Municipality of Braga “has been involved in promoting several pioneering projects, which aim to contribute to improving the well-being and health of different segments of the population, with a special focus on the senior population”. Therefore, he continued, “we look with great expectation to the results of this project and we will assess its impact to study a possible extension to other social institutions in the municipality”.

Maria José Guimarães recalled that sleep apnea “is a sleep disorder whose incidence affects around 20% of the world’s adult population, with a significant impact on quality of life and health in general. We are therefore facing a public health problem, with this particular age group being greatly affected by this sleep disorder”.

However, according to Carla Guimarães, most of these patients “do not have the possibility of using specialist medical care, either for mobility or financial reasons”. Therefore, the ‘Senior Sleep’ Project emerged “in a first phase to confirm this prevalence and, in a later phase, to enable the treatment of this sleep disorder to reach these people”.

For his part, António Ferreira expressed his satisfaction with the support given by the company to implement this initiative, in a project that, according to the person responsible, “will have a significant impact on the health care of the elderly, contributing to improving their quality of life and well-being. -being general”.

Goreti Machado welcomed the choice of this IPSS for the pioneering development of this project, noting “the strong enthusiasm of our users for participating in this project that could transform their quality of life”.

This pioneering project is carried out by a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals, including doctors specializing in sleep medicine, cardiopulmonary technicians and neurophysiologists, among other professionals. Using advanced diagnostic technologies, such as polysomnography and night polygraphy, the ‘Senior Sleep’ Project aims to identify and evaluate cases of Sleep Apnea.

Residents identified with sleep apnea are monitored in consultation and receive personalized treatment according to individual needs.