Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Dec;12(10):947-51.
doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2011.05.007. Epub 2011 Oct 28.

Familial aggregation of narcolepsy

Yun-Kwok Wing  1 , Lei Chen, Siu-Ping Lam, Albert M Li, Nelson L S Tang, Margaret H L Ng, Suk-Hang Cheng, Crover K W Ho, V Mok, Ho-Wan Leung, Alexander Lau, Michael Ho-Ming Chan, Hiu-Shuen Chan, Paul S K Chan
Affiliations

Familial aggregation of narcolepsy

Yun-Kwok Wing et al. Sleep Med. 2011 Dec.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the familial aggregation of narcolepsy from perspectives of clinical symptomatology, polysomnographic data, and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing.

Methods: This was a Family study at the University-affiliated hospital. The participants were narcolepsy probands and their first degree relatives, and, also, age and sex matched unrelated healthy controls. Interventions were not applicable.

Measurements and results: All study subjects underwent structured interviews, overnight polysomnography followed by a multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), and HLA typing. Altogether, 33 probands and 81 first degree relatives (response rate 65%) were recruited. Among the relatives, 12.3% were diagnosed with narcolepsy and 39.5% had narcolepsy spectrum as defined by unexplained abnormal MSLT (shortened MSL and SOREMP) results. The relative risk of narcolepsy in first degree relatives was 361.8. Familial aggregation of narcolepsy symptoms, excessive daytime sleepiness, HLA status, abnormal MSLT, and nocturnal polysomnographic findings were observed.

Conclusions: The familial risk of narcolepsy among first degree relatives is much higher than previously reported. There exists a spectrum of narcolepsy features among relatives, ranging from full clinical tetrads to asymptomatic abnormal MSLT findings.

PubMed Disclaimer