The Pediatric Narcolepsy Severity Scale (NSS-P) is a valuable tool to measure narcolepsy symptoms in school-aged children and adolescents, according to study results published in Neurology.

Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) is a disabling neurologic disorder secondary to an irreversible destruction of hypothalamic orexin/hypocretin neurons. In the absence of curative treatments, the management of these patients remains only symptomatic. A previous study validated the NSS, a 15-item self-report questionnaire, in adults with NT1.

The pediatric version of NSS (NSS-P) was developed in order to assess the frequency, severity, and consequences of NT1 symptoms in children and adolescents. The NSS-P assesses the 5 key symptoms of narcolepsy, including excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hallucinations, sleep paralysis, and disrupted nighttime sleep. After removal of the item about driving, the total score of 14-item NSS-P ranged from 0 to 54.

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