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
. 2025 Mar 29;38(3):40.
doi: 10.1007/s10548-025-01114-1.

Spectral and Microstate EEG Analysis in Narcolepsy Type 1 and Type 2 Across Sleep Stages

Shengpeng Liang  1   2 , Yihong Cheng  1   2 , Shixu Du  1   2 , Dhirendra Paudel  1   2 , Yan Xu  1   2 , Bin Zhang  3   4
Affiliations

Spectral and Microstate EEG Analysis in Narcolepsy Type 1 and Type 2 Across Sleep Stages

Shengpeng Liang et al. Brain Topogr. .

Abstract

Background: The primary distinction between narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) and narcolepsy type 2 (NT2) is the presence or absence of cataplexy, which is commonly determined through clinical interviews, though it can be prone to error due to vague patients descriptions.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate EEG microstate differences between NT1 and NT2 and their correlation with clinical assessments.

Methods: Polysomnography (PSG) and the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) were performed on 14 NT1 and 13 NT2 patients from three hospitals, with data from the ISRUC-SLEEP dataset serving as the comparison group. After EEG preprocessing, we performed the spectral analysis in NT1 and NT2, followed by microstate analysis. Grand mean maps were used for backfitting to obtain microstate parameters. Then, Spearman correlation was performed between the microstate parameters and the ESS and MSLT parameters.

Results: We found that the relative delta power in N2 was lower in the NT1 group compared to the NT2 group. Four microstates were clustered in all groups, and no statistical differences were observed in the microstate parameters between NT1 and NT2 groups. In the NT1 group, microstate D during wakefulness showed a positive correlation with ESS, while in the NT2 group, microstate D during wakefulness showed a negative correlation with ESS.

Conclusions: There are spectral differences between the NT1 and NT2 groups, and the opposite correlation between microstate D and ESS during wakefulness in NT1 and NT2 suggest that the underlying mechanisms leading to excessive daytime sleepiness in the two groups may be different.

Keywords: EEG microstates; Epworth sleepiness scale; Multiple sleep latency test; Narcolepsy; Polysomnography; Spectral analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors have declared that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to the subject of this study.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Alloway CED, Ogilvie RD, Shapiro CM (1999) EEG spectral analysis of the Sleep-onset period in narcoleptics and normal sleepers. Sleep 22:191–203. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/22.2.191 - DOI - PubMed
    1. American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2023) International Classification of Sleep Disorders – Third Edition, Text Revision (ICSD-3-TR)
    1. American Academy of Sleep Medicine (ed) (2014) International classification of sleep disorders, 3 edn. American Acad. of Sleep Medicine, Darien, Ill
    1. Barateau L, Pizza F, Plazzi G, Dauvilliers Y (2022) Narcolepsy J Sleep Res 31:e13631. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13631 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brodbeck V, Kuhn A, Von Wegner F et al (2012) EEG microstates of wakefulness and NREM sleep. NeuroImage 62:2129–2139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.05.060 - DOI - PubMed

Supplementary concepts

LinkOut - more resources