Narcolepsy and disturbed nocturnal sleep.

Disturbed nocturnal sleep is considered a symptom of narcolepsy. Polysomnographic recordings of 57 consecutive narcoleptic patients were reviewed for evidence of disturbed sleep. When disrupted sleep was present, it was attributable to recognized sleep disorders: nocturnal myoclonus and sleep apnea. Comparison of standard polysomnographically derived parameters of patients who had narcolepsy without sleep apnea or nocturnal myoclonus with those of a normal control group, showed no evidence of disturbed sleep in the patient population. The narcoleptics that also had nocturnal myoclonus or upper airway sleep apnea did have disturbed sleep in comparison with the normals. Our data suggest disturbed sleep tends to develop in narcolpetic patients with age, but is not an inherent element of the narcolepsy syndrome.