Epworth Sleepiness Scale

Abstract: The development and use of a new scale, the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), is described. This is a simple, self-administered questionnaire which is shown to provide a measurement of the subject's general level of daytime sleepiness. One hundred and eighty adults answered the ESS, including 30 normal men and women as controls and 150 patients with a range of sleep disorders. They rated the chances that they would doze off or fall asleep when in eight different situations commonly encountered in daily life. Total ESS scores significantly distinguished normal subjects from patients in various diagnostic groups including obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia. ESS scores were significantly correlated with sleep latency measured during the multiple sleep latency test and during overnight polysomnography. In patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome ESS scores were significantly correlated with the respiratory disturbance index and the minimum SaO2 recorded overnight. ESS scores of patients who simply snored did not differ from controls.

Abstract: The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) is a self-administered eight-item questionnaire that has been proposed as a simple method for measuring daytime sleepiness in adults. This investigation was concerned with the reliability and internal consistency of the ESS. When 87 healthy medical students were tested and retested 5 months later, their paired ESS scores did not change significantly and were highly correlated (r = 0.82). By contrast, ESS scores that were initially high in 54 patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome returned to more normal levels, as expected, after 3-9 months' treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure. The questionnaire had a high level of internal consistency as measured by Cronbach's alpha (0.88). Factor analysis of item scores showed that the ESS had only one factor for 104 medical students and for 150 patients with various sleep disorders. The ESS is a simple and reliable method for measuring persistent daytime sleepiness in adults.

Abstract: Purpose To characterize sleep patterns and predictors of poor sleep quality in a large population of college students. This study extends the 2006 National Sleep Foundation examination of sleep in early adolescence by examining sleep in older adolescents. Method One thousand one hundred twenty-five students aged 17 to 24 years from an urban Midwestern university completed a cross-sectional online survey about sleep habits that included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the Horne-Ostberg Morningness–Eveningness Scale, the Profile of Mood States, the Subjective Units of Distress Scale, and questions about academic performance, physical health, and psychoactive drug use. Results Students reported disturbed sleep; over 60% were categorized as poor-quality sleepers by the PSQI, bedtimes and risetimes were delayed during weekends, and students reported frequently taking prescription, over the counter, and recreational psychoactive drugs to alter sleep/wakefulness. Students classified as poor-quality sleepers reported significantly more problems with physical and psychological health than did good-quality sleepers. Students overwhelmingly stated that emotional and academic stress negatively impacted sleep. Multiple regression analyses revealed that tension and stress accounted for 24% of the variance in the PSQI score, whereas exercise, alcohol and caffeine consumption, and consistency of sleep schedule were not significant predictors of sleep quality. Conclusions These results demonstrate that insufficient sleep and irregular sleep–wake patterns, which have been extensively documented in younger adolescents, are also present at alarming levels in the college student population. Given the close relationships between sleep quality and physical and mental health, intervention programs for sleep disturbance in this population should be considered.

Abstract: The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) is a simple questionnaire measuring the general level of daytime sleepiness, called here the average sleep propensity This is a measure of the probability of falling asleep in a variety of situations The conceptual basis of the ESS involves a four-process model of sleep and wakefulness The sleep propensity at any particular time is a function of the ratio of the total sleep drive to the total wake drive with which it competes ESS scores significantly distinguished patients with primary snoring from those with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), and ESS scores increased with the severity of OSAS Multiple regression analysis showed that ESS scores were more closely related to the frequency of apneas than to the degree of hypoxemia in OSAS ESS scores give a useful measure of average sleep propensity, comparable to the results of all-day tests such as the multiple sleep latency test