By Ben Sutherly

The Columbus Dispatch Sunday August 26, 2012 10:17 AM

Technician Joel Coffing fits Jay Wuersig with sensors to detect his sleep patterns at Central Ohio Sleep Medicine in Gahanna.

Seemingly overnight, sleep medicine has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry. And it shows few signs of dozing off soon.

During the past five years, the sleep-clinic industry has expanded at an average annual rate of more than 13percent, to $5.8 billion in revenue this year, according to market-research firm IBISWorld Inc.Over the next five years, the industrys yearly revenue is expected to near $9 billion on the strength of 9 percent annual growth.

Meanwhile, manufacturers had combined revenue of $1.3 billion last year for sleep-disorder diagnostic and therapy products in the United States, according to research firm InMedica.

And Americans spent $1.7 billion on prescription sleep drugs in 2011, according to research firm IMS Health. That figure has declined in recent years as drug production shifts to less-expensive generics. (It doesnt include spending on over-the-counter sleep aids.)

Experts say the nations obesity epidemic has fueled the industrys growth by contributing to sleep disorders such as apnea. Another possible growth driver, IBISWorld says, is the proliferation of electronic devices, the light from which might interfere with the release of melatonin, a sleep-regulating hormone.

To a large extent, sleep disorders are a modern mans issue, said Joyce E. Gray, secretary/treasurer and founding member of the Ohio Sleep Society.Were seeing more patients come in for different types of disorders.

In Ohio, one sign of the industrys growth is the Ohio Sleep Societys ballooning membership roll. Founded five years ago, the society now counts 125 members, among them pulmonologists, neurologists, cardiologists, psychologists, makers of durable medical equipment, nurses, nurse practitioners and dentists (dental appliances are in some cases emerging as an alternative treatment for sleep apnea).

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No rest for sleep-medicine practitioners