Characterization of excessive sleepiness is an important task for the sleep clinician, and assessment requires a thorough history and in many cases, objective assessment in the sleep laboratory. These practice parameters were developed to guide the sleep clinician on appropriate clinical use of the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT), and the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT). These recommendations replace those published in 1992 in a position paper produced by the American Sleep Disorders Association. A Task Force of content experts was appointed by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to perform a comprehensive review of the scientific literature and grade the evidence regarding the clinical use of the MSLT and the MWT. Practice parameters were developed based on this review and in most cases evidence based methods were used to support recommendations. When data were insufficient or inconclusive, the collective opinion of experts was used to support recommendations. These recommendations were developed by the Standards of Practice Committee and reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. The MSLT is indicated as part of the evaluation of patients with suspected narcolepsy and may be useful in the evaluation of patients with suspected idiopathic hypersomnia. The MSLT is not routinely indicated in the initial evaluation and diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, or in assessment of change following treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). The MSLT is not routinely indicated for evaluation of sleepiness in medical and neurological disorders (other than narcolepsy), insomnia, or circadian rhythm disorders. The MWT may be indicated in assessment of individuals in whom the inability to remain awake constitutes a safety issue, or in patients with narcolepsy or idiopathic hypersomnia to assess response to treatment with medications. There is little evidence linking mean sleep latency on the MWT with risk of accidents in real world circumstances. For this reason, the sleep clinician should not rely solely on mean sleep latency as a single indicator of impairment or risk for accidents, but should also rely on clinical judgment. Assessment should involve integration of findings from the clinical history, compliance with treatment, and, in some cases, objective testing using the MWT. These practice parameters also include recommendations for the MSLT and MWT protocols, a discussion of the normative data available for both tests, and a description of issues that need further study.

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Practice Parameters for Clinical Use of the Multiple Sleep Latency Test and the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test

Comparison of therapeutic and subtherapeutic nasal continuous positive airway pressure for obstructive sleep apnoea: a randomised prospective parallel trial

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is an important symptom that needs to be quantified, but there is confusion over the best way to do this. Three of the most commonly used tests: the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), the maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT) and the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) give results that are significantly correlated in a statistical sense, but are not closely related. The purpose of this investigation was to help clarify this problem. Previously published data from several investigations were used to calculate the reference range of normal values for each test, defined by the mean+/-2 SD or by the 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles. The 'rule of thumb' that many people rely on to interpret MSLT results is shown here to be misleading. Previously published results from each test were also available for narcoleptic patients who were drug-free at the time and who by definition had EDS. This enabled the sensitivity and specificity of the three tests to be compared for the first time, in their ability to distinguish the EDS of narcolepsy from the daytime sleepiness of normal subjects. The receiver operator characteristic curves clearly showed that the ESS is the most discriminating test, the MWT is next best and the MSLT the least discriminating test of daytime sleepiness. The MSLT can no longer be considered the gold standard for such tests.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2869.2000.00177.x

Sensitivity and specificity of the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), the maintenance of wakefulness test and the epworth sleepiness scale: failure of the MSLT as a gold standard.

Rosa Hayduk

Papers

A normative study of the maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT).