Cleveland Clinic Opens Sleep Disorders Clinic at Lutheran Hospital to Meet Unique Needs of Hispanic Patients

Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital has added a sleep disorders clinic to the programs it offers to meet the unique needs of Hispanic patients in the community.

The new clinic, which is being directed by Cinthya Pena Orbea, M.D., will be offered on Wednesdays initially, with more days added as needed to meet patient demand. It is open to all patients.

More than half of Hispanic people in the United States get less than 7 hours of sleep at night. Sleep apnea, which is one of the most common sleep disorders, is widely underdiagnosed and people who are Hispanic are particularly at risk for that due to structural and psychosocial barriers, even more than members of other minority populations, Dr. Pena Orbea said.

“This will be a unique sleep clinic that will offer patient-centered care that is bilingual as well as bicultural to best meet the Hispanic community,” she said. “About 44 percent of Hispanic patients report that communication problems from language or cultural differences are a major factor contributing to worse health outcomes than seen in other adults in the United States.”

Optimal sleep health is necessary to promote overall health and prevent chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease, which are all highly prevalent in Hispanic patients, she added.

Dr. Pena Orbea has wanted to start a clinic to better serve the local Hispanic population since she moved to the United States from Ecuador in 2011. She joined Cleveland Clinic’s staff in 2019 after completing a residency in internal medicine at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County Chicago and fellowships in internal medicine and sleep medicine at Mayo Clinic.

She is interested in studying how the social determinants of health (access to food, safe housing, health care and other resources) affect the low rate of patients in this population seeking care for their sleep problems. For example, preliminary data from her work shows that only about 63 percent of Hispanic patients who are referred for a sleep study by their primary care doctor actually complete such a study.

“I would like to learn from our Hispanic patients more about the barriers that prevent them from getting the care they need so that we can design culturally tailored interventions to address these barriers and promote health equity in this growing population,” she said.

One barrier to treatment is getting equipment and supplies timely and efficiently to patients with sleep apnea who need continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. The new sleep clinic is exploring avenues to best provide that equipment to Spanish-speaking patients.

Patients can make appointments in Spanish for any Cleveland Clinic service including the new sleep clinic at 216.444.2538, option 7 (weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.).