Glucose tolerance in patients with narcolepsy.

STUDY

OBJECTIVES

Obesity is a common feature of narcolepsy. In addition, an increased occurrence of non-insulin dependent diabetes has been reported. So far, it is not known whether glucose metabolism in narcolepsy is disturbed due to, or independently of obesity.

DESIGN

Case-control study.

SETTING

Sleep medicine clinic at a research institute.

PATIENTS: We studied 17 patients with narcolepsy/cataplexy compared to 17 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI).

INTERVENTIONS: A 75-g oral glucose tolerance test was performed.

MEASUREMENTS: Glucose tolerance was determined by computing plasma glucose curve following oral glucose challenge for 240 minutes; insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion by homeostasis model assessment and minimal model analysis.

RESULTS

Standard outcome measures and indices of the oral glucose tolerance test did not differ between the patient group and the group of control subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, no clinically relevant pathologic findings in the glucose metabolism of narcoleptic patients compared to weight matched controls were found. Thus, narcolepsy is unlikely to be a risk factor per se for impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes.