Narcolepsy

Research

Mayo Clinic has a long and rich history of working to better understand the cause of narcolepsy and to develop better treatments and diagnostic tools.

Mayo Clinic doctors published the first-ever population-based study of narcolepsy conducted in North America and have developed a large registry of patients who have narcolepsy. Long-term follow-up of these patients is shedding light on how sleepiness affects the quality of life in people with narcolepsy.

Areas of study at the Mayo Clinic Narcolepsy Research Center have included:

• Relationship between levels of daytime sleepiness and levels of attention and concentration
  
• Narcolepsy and aging
  
• Possible link between childhood narcolepsy and obesity
  
• Emotions that trigger cataplexy
  
• Testing standards for cataplexy
  
• How hypocretin deficiency affects narcolepsy
  
• Relationship between hypocretin levels and particular HLA (human leukocyte antigen) allele subtypes
  
• Examination of blood and cerebral spinal fluid in patients with narcolepsy for presence of autoantibodies that work against hypocretin neurotransmission (necessary for normal wake-sleep regulation)
  
• Various drug studies

Mayo Publications

See a list of publications by Mayo doctors on narcolepsy on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.