This program will provide strategies for recognizing sleep disturbances and effectively treating them within the perimenopausal population. This program will also discuss the latest data linking various hormones with sleep disturbance, particularly insomnia. Also, the types of studies needed to clearly elucidate the relationship between hormones and sleep architecture will be discussed.

• List the prevalence of Sleep Disturbances in the perimenopausal population
• List effects that various hormones (e.g., estrogen, progesterone, etc,) have on sleep architecture
• List findings which may suggest that a sleep disturbance is caused by estrogen withdrawal versus the affects of aging (or list reasons why the origin cannot be determined)
• List strategies for treating Sleep Disturbances in the perimenopausal population
• List the types of studies that must be undertaken to elucidate the origin of Sleep Disturbances in the perimenopausal population
• Explain the usefulness of benzodiazepine receptor agonists for treating insomnia associated with menopause and perimenopause
• List implications of the preliminary outcomes of a study that showed that benzodiazepine receptor agonist may potentially relieve symptoms of menopause other than insomnia

• Accreditation

• Credit Designation

• Date of Release and Expiration

Dr. Ravnikar is boarded in both obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive endocrine and infertility. A graduate of the State University of New York Medical School in Syracuse, Ravinkar went to Northwestern University Medical Center in Chicago for a four-year residency in Ob/Gyn. Her reproductive endocrine fellowship was performed at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS). She stayed at the HMS staff for 14 years, working both at BWH and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She currently holds the title of lecturer at HMS and associate clinical gynecologist at MGH. In her work at BWH she directed the Menopause Unit and the IVF Unit. At MGH she was director of the Reproductive Endocrine Unit where she started the IVF Unit. Prior to arriving at Saint Barnabas she was professor of Ob/Gyn at University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical Center and director of the Reproductive Endocrine Unit. At that time she was co-principle investigator on the Women's Health Initiate at UMass. Dr. Ravnikar was recently honored as alumni of the year by Northwestern and was named "best" and listed in the Best Doctorsİ in America database, the largest peer-review based evaluation of the medical profession, which includes 50,000 doctors. Currently she is chairperson of the Ob/Gyn program at Saint Barnabas Medical Center and clinical professor of Ob/Gyn in Mount Sinai Medical School in New York City.

Rafael Pelayo, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine

Rafael Pelayo, MD, is an assistant professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He has a BS in biology from the University of Puerto Rico. He attended medical school at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. He completed residency training in child neurology in New York in 1993, followed by a fellowship in sleep disorders medicine at Stanford University. He is board-certified in both pediatrics and sleep medicine. He has served on the health policy committee of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He currently serves on the National Institutes of Health Sleep Disorders Advisory Board.

Kin M. Yuen, M.D., M.S.
Diplomat, American Board of Sleep Medicine
Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine

Dr. Kin Yuen, a diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine, is an adjunct faculty member for the Stanford University School of Medicine. She has been a sleep specialist in private practice in California for the past six years. Before spending two years in a research fellowship at Stanford Sleep Disorders Center, she practiced as a staff physician in internal medicine for the Stanford Medical Group. She also holds a Master's degree in Health Services Research/Health Policy from Stanford University. She volunteers in the Health Policy Committee of AASM, and she was a past member of the Membership Committee. In addition to her clinical practice, she has many sleep research interests. A topic of particular interest to her is sleep in women through the life cycles. She has lectured nationally, and will present this topic in the new World Association of Sleep Medicine in Berlin in a few days. Dr. Yuen has been the primary author, as well as co-author of articles and book chapters on sleep disorders and health economics.

Veronica Ravnikar, MD has acted as a consultant and received honoraria from Duramed, Pfizer, Proctor & Gamble, Columbia and Merck

Kin Yuen, MD, has acted received honoraria from sanofi-aventis U.S. Inc., Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Sepracor

Rafael Pelayo, MD, has acted as a consultant and received honorarium from sanofi-aventis U.S. Inc. and Sepracor and has received financial or material support from Sepracor, Cephalon and Takeda.

This educational program is supported through an educational grant from sanofi-aventis U.S. Inc.