Narcolepsy

Indications for Testing

Testing for narcolepsy should be considered when an individual has experienced EDS regularly for at least 3 months and after other common causes of persistent sleepiness (eg, other sleep disorders, insufficient sleep, medication use, depression) have been ruled out. 

Laboratory Testing

Sleep assessments are more important to the diagnosis of narcolepsy than are standard laboratory tests. Typically, an individual with narcolepsy experiences sleep fragmentation during a nocturnal polysomnography (PSG) and several short sleep-onset rapid-eye-movement (REM) periods (SOREMPs) during multiple sleep latency testing (MSLT).  If the findings of these tests are indicative of narcolepsy (see Diagnostic Criteria below), further laboratory testing may be performed to differentiate between narcolepsy type 1 and type 2. 

Sleep tests should not be administered when the patient is under the influence of medications that affect REM sleep, such as psychoactive medications, stimulants, and antidepressants. 

Human Leukocyte Antigen-DQB1*06:02 Genotyping

The HLA-DQB1*06:02 allele is strongly associated with narcolepsy and is present in over 98% of individuals with narcolepsy type 1 and about 50% of individuals with narcolepsy type 2,  representing one of the strongest HLA-disease associations.   However, 15-25% of individuals in the general population also carry the allele, which suggests that it is necessary but not sufficient for development of the disorder and that additional genetic and environmental factors may be involved.  

HLA testing in a patient has an excellent negative predictive value and is useful to rule out narcolepsy in patients with unexplained sleepiness.  However, the positive predictive value is low; a positive test for HLA-DQB1*06:02 does not establish a diagnosis on its own. 

Because an individual without HLA-DQB1*06:02 almost never has a hypocretin deficiency, some clinicians suggest testing for the allele before performing a lumbar puncture to assess hypocretin-1 concentrations in patients. 

Recent studies indicate a gene dose effect for HLA-DQB1*06:02: homozygosity doubles the risk of narcolepsy. Other HLA alleles in trans position have been described as dominantly protective, including HLA-DQB1*06:03, *06:01, *05:01, *06:09, and DQB1*02 alleles.  However, currently available clinical tests do not provide information on gene dose; they only report the presence or absence of HLA-DQB1*06:02 allele (positive or negative).

Hypocretin-1 Testing

Hypocretin deficiency is diagnostic for narcolepsy type 1.  After a positive test for HLA-DQB1*06:02, a test for hypocretin-1 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), if available, may be performed.  A value of ≤110 pg/mL is sufficient for a diagnosis of narcolepsy type 1 in patients suffering from EDS.  However, because hypocretin testing is not always available, narcolepsy type 1 and type 2 may be differentiated based solely on the presence or absence of cataplexy. 

Diagnostic Criteria

International Classification of Sleep Disorders

Narcolepsy Type 1

The ICSD-3 indicates that both of the following criteria must be met for a diagnosis of type 1 :

• Lapses into daytime sleep or episodes of irrepressible need to sleep occurring each day for 3 months or more
• At least one of the following:
  • Cataplexy along with a mean sleep latency of ≤8 minutes, plus two or more SOREMPs on a standard MSLT (one SOREMP may be replaced by a SOREMP within 15 minutes of sleep onset on the nocturnal PSG)
  • Hypocretin deficiency (CSF hypocretin-1 value of ≤110 pg/mL)

Narcolepsy Type 2

All five of the following criteria must be met for a diagnosis of type 2 :

• Lapses into daytime sleep or episodes of irrepressible need to sleep occurring each day for 3 months or more
• Mean sleep latency of ≤8 minutes, plus two or more SOREMPs on a standard MSLT (one SOREMP may be replaced by a SOREMP within 15 minutes of sleep onset on the nocturnal PSG)
• Absence of cataplexy
• CSF hypocretin-1 concentration either not measured or >110 pg/mL
• Hypersomnolence or sleep latency observations that are not better explained by a different cause

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Criteria from DSM-5 for a diagnosis of narcolepsy (not subdivided by type) include the following :

• Several periods of irrepressible need to sleep or lapses into sleep occurring on the same day, at least three times a week for 3 months
• At least one of the following:
  • Several episodes of cataplexy per month, characterized as either:
    • Brief episodes of muscle tone loss, triggered by laughter or joking, with maintained consciousness (in individuals with long-term disease)
    • Spontaneous grimaces, jaw opening with tongue thrusting, or global hypotonia without any emotional triggers (in children or individuals with disease onset in the last 6 months)
  • Hypocretin deficiency (CSF hypocretin-1 value of ≤110 pg/mL not attributable to another cause such as brain infection, injury, or inflammation)
  • REM sleep latency ≤15 minutes on nocturnal PSG or a mean sleep latency of ≤8 minutes with two or more SOREMPs on a standard MSLT