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Summary: Patients with a primary diagnosis of narcolepsy or idiopathic CNS hypersomnia seen at Stanford University Sleep Disorders Clinic over a 5-year period were studied retrospectively. The two patient groups were compared with respect to blood pressure, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) psychological profile, nocturnal sleep structure, prevalence and severity of sleep apnea and periodic leg movements in sleep, and daytime sleep tendency. Narcoleptic patients tended to have higher blood pressure, higher prevalence of abnormally elevated MMPI scores, more abbreviated and more disrupted sleep at night, and greater daytime sleep tendency. Sleep apnea and periodic leg movements were more prevalent in narcoleptic patients, but only periodic leg movements in sleep were more prevalent in narcoleptic patients than in the general popUlation. Periodic leg movements during REM sleep were observed in more than one-third of narcoleptic patients, which may be an important pathophysiologic feature of this disorder. Key Words: Narcolepsy-Idiopathic central nervous system hypersomnia-Sleep stages-Multiple sleep latency test-Nocturnal myoclonus-Sleep apnea-Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Nocturnal polysomnogram.Narcolepsy and idiopathic central nervous system (CNS) hypersomnia are both disorders characterized by symptoms of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) not directly attributable to medical, toxic, or psychiatric factors. These two disorders have many similarities, including age of symptom onset, nonremission of symptoms over the life span, and heredofamilial tendency. The symptoms that differentiate narcolepsy from idiopathic CNS hypersomnia are cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations, and sleep paralysis (1).Bedrich Roth was the first to clearly isolate the idiopathic hypersomnia syndrome, differentiating it from narcolepsy on the basis of comprehensive symptom histories of over 600 cases of hypersomnia (2,3). Both nighttime sleep and daytime naps of idiopathic hypersomnic patients are prolonged and rarely interrupted by awakenings. In contrast, the nocturnal sleep of narcoleptic patients is of normal duration, and in some patients, sleep

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