Clinical Aspects of Narcolepsy-Cataplexy Across Ethnic Groups

Complex HLA-DR and -DQ interactions confer risk of narcolepsy-cataplexy in three ethnic groups.

Human narcolepsy-cataplexy, a sleep disorder associated with a centrally mediated hypocretin (orexin) deficiency, is tightly associated with HLA-DQB1*0602. Few studies have investigated the influence that additional HLA class II alleles have on susceptibility to this disease. In this work, 1,087 control subjects and 420 narcoleptic subjects with cataplexy, from three ethnic groups, were HLA typ...

Narcolepsy and Cataplexy

After hearing the punch line of the joke, the teenager falls to the floor, almost as if actually punched. She remains there, completely unable to move. She hears her parents reassure her friends that they need not worry about her because she will be all right in a few minutes. She is embarrassed and frustrated as the episode continues, and her friends begin to leave. They bid her goodbye, but s...

Narcolepsy and Cataplexy

Epidemiology [3] Prevalence is estimated as 25 per 100,000 in Caucasian populations. [4] Age of onset is typically around adolescence. A smaller number of cases presents at around 35 years. Less than 5% of narcolepsy with cataplexy occurs in children. One study found that it was often linked to complex movement disorders. [5] It is possible that incidence statistics would increase if diagnostic...

Clinical and therapeutic aspects of childhood narcolepsy-cataplexy: a retrospective study of 51 children.

STUDY OBJECTIVE to report on symptoms and therapies used in childhood narcolepsy-cataplexy. DESIGN, PATIENTS, AND SETTING retrospective series of 51 children who completed the Stanford Sleep Inventory. HLA-DQB1*0602 typing (all tested, and 100% positive), polysomnography or Multiple Sleep Latency Test (76%), and cerebrospinal fluid hypocretin-1 measurements (26%, all with low levels) were als...

The neurobiology of narcolepsy-cataplexy.