This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Go to /pro/cpd-dashboard page

This page is worth 0.05 CPD credits. CPD dashboard

Go to /account/subscription-details page

This page is worth 0.05 CPD credits. Upgrade to Pro

Multiple sleep latency test (MSLT)

Authoring team

The gold standard physiological evaluation in the evaluation of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) (used in a specialist sleep setting)

  • provides objective measurement of rapidity of sleep onset
  • MSLT measures an individual’s physiologic sleep tendency when potential alerting environmental or circadian cues are controlled. One of the main advantages of this test is that the degree of sleepiness cannot be exaggerated by the patient. Sleep latency is assessed over five daytime nap trials of 20 minutes each, at two hour intervals
  • mainly used for diagnosing narcolepsy or idiopathic hypersomnia
  • overall mean sleep latency <10 minutes is considered clinically significant and patients with narcolepsy have a mean sleep latency <8 minutes

Reference:

  • Brown J, Makker KM. An approach to excessive daytime sleepiness in adults. BMJ 2020;368:m1047

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.