Microsleep and sleepiness: a comparison of multiple sleep latency test and scoring of microsleep as a diagnostic test for excessive daytime sleepiness.
OBJECTIVE
To compare multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) and scoring of microsleep (presence of sleep electroencephalograph between 3 and 15s in an epoch) as a diagnostic test for excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS).


METHODS
A retrospective study.


METHODS
Sleep center at a tertiary care teaching hospital.


METHODS
Patients referred to a sleep center who had an MSLT and one or more of the following symptoms; tiredness, sleepiness, memory loss, accidents/near accidents and gap driving.


METHODS
Full night polysomnography (PSG) and next day MSLT were performed. Patients were classified as 'microsleep-positive' or 'microsleep-negative' according to presence or absence of microsleep.


RESULTS
Patients (n=92) were divided into three groups according to their MSLT results; group A had an MSLT</=5min (n=38), group B had an MSLT=6-10min (n=26), and group C had an MSLT>10min (n=28). The number of patients with symptoms of tiredness and memory loss were statistically higher in group A compared with groups B and C (P=0.036). The number of patients with symptoms of EDS, in groups B and C, was significantly higher in patients with microsleep than without microsleep (P<0.05). By a paired McNemar's test, the better performance of adding microsleep to MSLT (sensitivity 42.9%; specificity 63.6%) to assess EDS was statistically significant (P=0.0096).


CONCLUSIONS
Microsleep determination during an MSLT is a more sensitive and specific test for EDS as compared to MSLT alone.
Institute for Sleep-Wake Disorders at Hackensack University Medical Center, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Hackensack, NJ, USA.
Vijaya L
VL
Tirunahari
Syed A
SA
Zaidi
Rakesh
R
Sharma
Joan
J
Skurnick
Hormoz
H
Ashtyani
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009290:Narcolepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017286:Polysomnography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*