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Brain Sciences
Special Issues
Narcolepsy and Its Implication in Quality of Life
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Narcolepsy and Its Implication in Quality of Life

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 6550

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Philippe Lehert

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Louvain School of Management, Louvain University, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
Interests: brain disorders; pharmaceuticals; behavioral and social science; contraception/reproduction

Special Issue Information

Dear Collegues,

Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations, and sleep paralysis. This disease significantly affects overall patient functioning, interfering with social, work, and affective life. Some symptoms of narcolepsy depend on emotional stimuli; for instance, cataplectic attacks can be triggered by emotional inputs such as laughing, joking, a pleasant surprise, or anger. Nighttime (nocturnal) sleep patterns may also be disrupted. Three additional symptoms often associated with narcolepsy are sudden extreme muscle weakness (cataplexy), a specific type of hallucination that occurs just before falling asleep or upon awakening, and brief episodes of paralysis while waking up. Narcolepsy also may be associated with “automatic behavior”, that is, doing something automatically without any memory afterward. The incidence of narcolepsy is approximately 1 in 2000, and most researchers believe that the disorder remains undiagnosed or misdiagnosed in many affected individuals.

 Narcolepsy and psychiatric disorders have a significant but unrecognized relationship, which is an area of evolving interest, but unfortunately, the association is poorly understood. It is not uncommon for the two to occur co-morbidly. However, narcolepsy is frequently misdiagnosed initially as a psychiatric condition, contributing to the protracted time to accurate diagnosis and treatment. Narcolepsy is a disabling neurodegenerative condition that carries a high risk for the development of social and occupational dysfunction. Deterioration in function may lead to the secondary development of psychiatric symptoms. Inversely, the development of psychiatric symptoms can lead to deterioration in function and quality of life.

This Special Issue aims to provide a collection of original research/review articles reflecting the most exciting and recent progress made in all aspects of the field.

Dr. Philippe Lehert
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • narcolepsy
  • schizophrenia
  • attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
  • depression
  • anxiety
  • psychiatric disorders

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

26 pages, 1631 KiB  
Review
Narcolepsy—A Neuropathological Obscure Sleep Disorder: A Narrative Review of Current Literature
by Vishal Chavda, Bipin Chaurasia, Giuseppe E. Umana, Santino Ottavio Tomasi, Bingwei Lu and Nicola Montemurro
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(11), 1473; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111473 - 30 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 6075
Abstract
Narcolepsy is a chronic, long-term neurological disorder characterized by a decreased ability to regulate sleep–wake cycles. Some clinical symptoms enter into differential diagnosis with other neurological diseases. Excessive daytime sleepiness and brief involuntary sleep episodes are the main clinical symptoms. The majority of [...] Read more.
Narcolepsy is a chronic, long-term neurological disorder characterized by a decreased ability to regulate sleep–wake cycles. Some clinical symptoms enter into differential diagnosis with other neurological diseases. Excessive daytime sleepiness and brief involuntary sleep episodes are the main clinical symptoms. The majority of people with narcolepsy experience cataplexy, which is a loss of muscle tone. Many people experience neurological complications such as sleep cycle disruption, hallucinations or sleep paralysis. Because of the associated neurological conditions, the exact pathophysiology of narcolepsy is unknown. The differential diagnosis is essential because relatively clinical symptoms of narcolepsy are easy to diagnose when all symptoms are present, but it becomes much more complicated when sleep attacks are isolated and cataplexy is episodic or absent. Treatment is tailored to the patient’s symptoms and clinical diagnosis. To facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders and to better understand the neuropathological mechanisms of this sleep disorder, this review summarizes current knowledge on narcolepsy, in particular, genetic and non-genetic associations of narcolepsy, the pathophysiology up to the inflammatory response, the neuromorphological hallmarks of narcolepsy, and possible links with other diseases, such as diabetes, ischemic stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. This review also reports all of the most recent updated research and therapeutic advances in narcolepsy. There have been significant advances in highlighting the pathogenesis of narcolepsy, with substantial evidence for an autoimmune response against hypocretin neurons; however, there are some gaps that need to be filled. To treat narcolepsy, more research should be focused on identifying molecular targets and novel autoantigens. In addition to therapeutic advances, standardized criteria for narcolepsy and diagnostic measures are widely accepted, but they may be reviewed and updated in the future with comprehension. Tailored treatment to the patient’s symptoms and clinical diagnosis and future treatment modalities with hypocretin agonists, GABA agonists, histamine receptor antagonists and immunomodulatory drugs should be aimed at addressing the underlying cause of narcolepsy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Narcolepsy and Its Implication in Quality of Life)
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