Simplified Multiple Sleep Latency Test for Diagnosis of the Excessive Daytime Sleepiness

Objective:To investigate the feasibility of the simplified multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) .Method:20 control subjects, 25 narcolepsy patients and 20 cases with obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) were studied,and the parameters of the polysomnography (PSG) and MSLT were analyed. Result: No difference was found in sleep latency time (SLT) between each time and the means of five times ( P 0.05) . There was also no difference in SLT between the means of two or three times and the means of five times ( P 0.05). If the SLT 5 minutes was applied to the diagnosis of the narcolepsy, the sensitivity of two times sleep was 91.67% ~ 100% .If using rapid eye movement (REM)sleep2 times as the diagnosis of the narcolepsy, the sensitivity of two times sleep was 100% , specificity 62.3% ~ 75.5% . The sensitivity of three times sleep was 100% , specificity 78.7% ~ 88.1 % .Conclusion:The simplified MSLT can be used for the diagnosis of the excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) , two or three times sleep latency test can replace the five times sleep latency test.