Pupillographic sleepiness testing in hypersomniacs and normals.

BACKGROUND

Pupillary oscillations in darkness are considered to be a sign of sleepiness. The purpose of this pilot study was to ascertain whether pupillary oscillations were more pronounced in patients with hypersomnia than in normals.

METHODS

Seven patients (four with sleep apnea syndrome, three with narcolepsy) and seven age-matched controls underwent pupillography for 11 min in complete darkness. The changes in pupil size were analyzed mathematically to determine quantitatively the amount of pupillary instability.

RESULTS

Hypersomniacs had much higher amounts of pupillary oscillations in darkness than normals. The differences were significant. Baseline pupil size did not differ significantly between the two groups.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that a pupillographic sleepiness test based on the evaluation of spontaneous pupillary changes in darkness is applicable in hypersomniacs and may facilitate therapy control, i.e. diagnostic grading by measuring daytime sleepiness objectively.