The maintenance of wakefulness test in normal healthy subjects.
OBJECTIVE
The Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) examines an individual's ability to stay awake in an environment of decreased sensory stimulation. Only 1 previous study has systematically examined the MWT in normal healthy subjects.


METHODS
Sleep disorders unit laboratory


METHODS
31 subjects (mean age 48.5 years, SD 9.6; 8 women) were randomly selected via the telephone directory within a 30-km radius of the test centers. They answered a general screen for health complaints (respiratory, cardiovascular, and psychiatric disorders) and sleep difficulties (snoring).


METHODS
N/A.


RESULTS
Overnight polysomnography and a 40-minute MWT the following day were performed on all subjects. Mean sleep latency to the first epoch of unequivocal sleep during the 40-minute trial MWT was 36.9 +/- 5.4 (SD) minutes. The lower normal limit, defined as 2 SD below the mean, was therefore 26.1 minutes. Mean sleep latency for the first 20 minutes of the trial (with sleep latency defined as time to the first appearance of 1 epoch of stage 1 sleep or a 10-second microsleep) was 18.6 +/- 2.3 minutes, with a lower normal limit of 14.0 minutes.


CONCLUSIONS
The mean results are consistent with previously published normative data. However, the SDs found in this study are smaller, and, thus, the lower normal limit suggested here is 4 to 6 minutes longer. The subjects in this study were randomly selected from the general population and may, therefore, be a truer representation of the normal population than in the previous study in which subjects were recruited via hospital advertisements and word of mouth.
Banks
Siobhan
S
Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, Repatriation General Hospital, Daw Park, SA, Australia. Siobhan.Banks@rgh.sa.gov.au
Barnes
Maree
M
Tarquinio
Natalie
N
Pierce
Robert J
RJ
Lack
Leon C
LC
McEvoy
R Doug
RD
D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*