title: Determination of sleep latency in polysomnographic evaluations of daytime somnolence in patients with sleep apnea and patients with narcolepsy.
abstract: Sleep onset during the multiple sleep latency test was scored by three criteria for 21 patients with narcolepsy and 21 patients with obstructive sleep apnea: a single epoch of stage 1, three consecutive epochs of stage 1, and a single epoch of stage 2 or REM. Mean sleep latency for both groups was predictably shortest using a single epoch of stage 1 and longest using a single epoch of stage 2 or REM. All estimates of sleep latency were highly correlated. It was concluded that a single epoch of any stage of sleep is an appropriate measure of sleep latency for patients with narcolepsy, although a modified scoring system should be developed for patients with sleep apnea. The obstructive apneic episodes prevented or delayed sleep onset on 4.8% to 33.3% of trials depending on the specific criteria used to determine sleep latency. Such apnea-related interruptions to sleep should be taken into account when assessing daytime somnolence in patients with sleep apnea.
authors.affiliation: Sleep Disorders Center, Humana Hospital-Audubon, Louisville, Kentucky 40217.
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Browman
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Winslow
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D009290:Narcolepsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012895:Sleep, REM