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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.