Australian respiratory technology company, Rhinomed (ASX:RNO), has announced a new partnership with SleepGP, a network of GP practices.
The partnership is aimed at raising awareness of sleep disordered breathing issues.
According to Rhinomed, a growing body of medical research links sleep, snoring and breathing issues at night to a range of physical and mental health conditions including depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Michael Johnson, CEO of Rhinomed said, “GPs play a vital role in educating Australians about the role sleep plays in maintaining good health. They are the front line of health delivery in Australia and ensuring they are well positioned to provide their patients with the latest information and technology is critical.
“Sleep disordered breathing is a hugely under-diagnosed and untreated condition. Every day hundreds of patients ask their GPs about their own, or their partners’ snoring. With over 80% of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea patients remaining undiagnosed, this is a significant health issue.”
He continued, “A GP is ideally placed to assist people in understanding their diagnosis and treatment options. We are really pleased to see medical professionals recognising the role Mute has to play in relieving nasal pressure and reducing snoring.”
Rhinomed says the new partnership is an opportunity to help address low diagnosis rates, which are partly due to a lack of awareness and the fear many patients have of existing therapies, by engaging patients in a conversation about sleep, snoring and health.
According to Dr John Malouf, SleepGP’s founding clinician, “SleepGP is empowering GPs to provide appropriate solutions to sleep related disorders from simple snoring to Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. We are pleased to be partnering with Rhinomed to drive awareness of this issue. Relieving airway resistance at the nasal valve is one of the important components of the SleepGP algorithm and Rhinomed’s Mute performs this task admirably.”
Mute, Rhinomed’s over-the-counter snoring and sleep quality aid, works by improving breathing capacityand has been shown in a user trial to reduce snoring in over 75 per cent of patients.