Clinical utility of the Chinese version of the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale in children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and narcolepsy

AIM: The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS) and the utility of the PDSS as a screening tool for pathological daytime sleepiness in teenagers with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and narcolepsy. METHODS: The PDSS was first administered to 238 middle and high school students to assess the reliability of the scale, and then administered to 28 teenagers with OSA, 31 teenagers with narcolepsy, and 34 normal controls to evaluate its clinical utility. RESULTS: Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were acceptable. The PDSS scores were significantly higher in narcoleptic subjects than in subjects with OSA, and higher in OSA syndrome (OSAS) subjects than normal controls. Furthermore, the scores decreased in narcoleptic subjects after medical treatment. Both reliability and validity were proven to be good. As a screening tool for narcolepsy, receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the PDSS, with a cut-off score of 16/17, had good sensitivity (87.1%) and fair specificity (74.3%) for identifying individuals with narcolepsy. When used for screening OSA, however, the differentiating power was not as good. CONCLUSION: The PDSS is a reliable and valid tool for the measurement of sleepiness in clinical youth populations. When used as a screening tool, it is useful for sleep disorders involving more severe pathological sleepiness, as in narcolepsy.