Narcolepsy with Cataplexy in Early Childhood

Abstract

Narcolepsy is a rare neurologic sleep disorder with morbidity associated with functional impairment and frequent delay in diagnosis. Symptoms typically manifest in adolescence or early adulthood, but diagnosis of narcolepsy has been reported in early childhood. Diagnosis rates are as low as 50% of the total population of patients with narcolepsy and are delayed as much as 10 years after disease onset due to inadequate patient-physician communication and/or misdiagnosis. I present the complexity of diagnosing narcolepsy in early childhood in a patient with cataplexy that started soon after independent ambulation at age 10 months.