Following up on Patients Diagnosed with Idiopathic Hypersomnia
Dr. Karel Šonka
Head of Sleep and wake disorders center, Department of neurology and clinical neurosciences, Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic.
Dr Šonka got his training in neurology and in sleep medicine in Prague and in Montpelier. He obtained the specialisation of neurologist in 1988 (Czechoslovakia), the University diploma “Sleep and Wake” in 1992 (France) and he passed through European Sleep Research Society examination for “Sleep Experts” in 2012 in Paris. He was appointed professor of neurology in 2004.
Dr Šonka is currently the head of Sleep and Wake Disorders Centre (First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague). Dr Šonka served as the president of the Czech Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine Society for 11 years and as the president of the Czech Neurological Society for four years. Dr Šonka is the ESRS member since 1986.
Idiopathic Hypersomnia Years After the Diagnosis
In this week’s SSF we hear from Professor Karel Šonka on his recent research “Idiopathic hypersomnia years after the diagnosis” published in the Journal of Sleep Research, investigating the status of patients who had been diagnosed with Idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) up to 10 years previously (vide Sonka et al., 2023).
Study Overview and Objectives
Idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) is a rare neurological disease whose main symptom is hypersomnolence, which includes excessive daytime sleepiness and excessive amounts of sleep. Little is known about the long-term clinical course of IH despite it being considered a life-long disorder. In their study, Professor Šonka and his team studied 60 patients in whom the diagnosis of IH was ascertained 10 years ago on average. Of those patients, two had their diagnosis changed to narcolepsy type 2, ten had a complete resolution of hypersomnolence and 48 had persistent hypersomnolence. Of these patients with persistent hypersomnolence, 33 patients retained a clear clinical picture of IH without other diseases that could provoke excessive sleepiness and 15 patients had another condition or conditions potentially causing hypersomnolence.
The Findings
This study has two key clinical insights: firstly, that there is a fraction of patients diagnosed with IH in whom hypersomnolence disappears; and secondly, that a quarter of patients subsequently developed another disease or diseases that may explain the patient’s hypersomnolence. The most common of these comorbidities being depression. This means that in clinical practice, IH should be considered even in the presence of other, more prevalent conditions causing hypersomnolence.
For more details, you can watch and listen to Professor Karel Sonka presenting his very interesting research in the video below. You can also access his publication here.
Recent publications from ESRS members
- Breville et al. (2023). Obstructive sleep apnea: a major risk factor for COVID-19 encephalopathy? BMCNeurol.
- Sinclair et al. (2023). The Beginning of the AI-Enabled Preventative PAP Therapy Era: A First-in-Human Proof of Concept Interventional Study. IEEE Trans BiomedEng.
- Kyle et al. (2023). Clinical and cost-effectiveness of nurse-delivered sleep restriction therapy for insomnia in primary care(HABIT): a pragmatic, superiority, open-label, randomised controlled trial. Lancet.
- van Straten, van Trigt and Lancee (2023). How to boost implementation for insomnia treatment in primary care? Lancet. Sleep.
- Morssinkhof et al. (2023). Influence of sex hormone use on sleep architecture in a transgender cohort: findings from the prospective RESTED study. Sleep.
- Gorgoni et al. (2023). The role of the sleep K-complex on the conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease. J Sleep Res.
- Vael et al. (2023). Skin temperature as a predictor of on-the-road driving performance in people with central disorders of hypersomnolence. J Sleep Res.