Emerging Trends in Sleep: Pediatric Narcolepsy Scale, How Race Influences Classification of OSA Severity, and More

A roundup of the latest news in sleep research reported across MJH Life Sciences^™.

Examining the Potential of a Narcolepsy Severity Scale for Pediatric Populations

As reported by NeurologyLive^®, the novel Pediatric Narcolepsy Severity Scale (NSS-P) was shown to provide adequate psychometric properties and temporal stability in the assessment of more than 150 children and adolescents with narcolepsy type 1.

Spotlighting the potential of a scale tailored toward pediatric populations, NSS-P was reformulated from the original NSS and provided self-reported sleepiness, insomnia, and depressive symptoms of school-aged children and adolescents diagnosed in 3 reference centers for narcolepsy in France.

Notably, the scale may be unreliable in those under the age of 10, as young children may have difficulty in recognizing and quantifying symptoms such as cataplexy. Symptoms associated with NT1, including fatigue, brain fog, and autonomic behaviors, were also noted to not be evaluated by the NSS-P questionnaire.

Race/Ethnicity May Impact Classification of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Differences in sleep phenotypes characteristic of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) between White and Hispanic/Latino patients may warrant the integration of new classification classes in these populations, according to study findings published in Sleep.

As reported by NeurologyLive^®, data derived from the Sleep Apnea Global Interdisciplinary Consortium on primarily non-Hispanic White and Asian participants recommended the categorization of OSA into 5 symptom classes. Conversely, analysis of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos on Hispanic/Latino patients identified 3 phenotypes for categorization, including minimally symptomatic (47.7%), excessive sleepiness (37.1%), and disturbed sleep (15.2%).

Furthermore, differences in comorbidity profiles were found to differ by the classified phenotype, in which patients of the excessive sleepiness phenotype were more prone to obstructive lung disease and those of the disturbed sleep phenotype were more likely to self-report cerebrovascular disease and/or heart attack.

Assessing State of Sleep Research, Progress in Unmet Needs

In an interview by NeurologyLive^®, Raman Malhotra, MD, associate professor of neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, and president, American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), spoke on the current state of sleep care and how unmet needs are influencing future research.

With the recent position statement by AASM affirming sleep as an essential component of health, Malhotra said that major health issues prominent in the United States have been shown to be influenced by sleep health, including obesity, ischemic risk, and dementia. However, he noted that further research on how sleep plays a mediating role in the risk of neurological disorders is needed, as knowledge on the association is still in its infancy.

Furthermore, he said that finding a cost-effective approach to better measure sleep across multiple nights would help improve representative data on sleep quality and duration and subsequently underscore the impact of these issues on overall health.