Premium
The origin of excessive daytime sleepiness in the Prader‐Willi syndrome
Author(s) -
HELBINGZWANENBURG B.,
KAMPHUISEN H. A. C.,
MOURTAZAEV M. S.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2788.1993.tb00323.x
Subject(s) - excessive daytime sleepiness , narcolepsy , psychology , non rapid eye movement sleep , cataplexy , eye movement , rapid eye movement sleep , sleep (system call) , rem sleep behavior disorder , sleep disorder , medicine , audiology , psychiatry , insomnia , polysomnography , neurology , electroencephalography , neuroscience , computer science , operating system
The polygraphically recorded sleep‐wake continuum of 21 Prader‐Willi syndrome (PWS) patients was compared with that of 19 normal people. In the Prader‐Willi group, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is found in 95% of subjects, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep disorders occur in 52%. These two features were significantly different from the normal group of subjects. No indications were found for the presence of the apnoea syndrome. The REM sleep disorders are: sleep onset rapid eye movements (SOREM), REM sleep in naps, many arousals during REM sleep, and a significant decrease in total REM sleep. These disturbances in the Prader‐Willi group, combined with the presence of EDS and sometimes of cataplexy, are likely to be expressions of a narcoleptic syndrome although this was not sustained by the HI‐A‐DR2 expression above normal. The quality of life of PWS subjects can be improved in some cases by treating them as narcoieptic patients.