SleepDec 1, 1993

Daytime sleepiness and thinking skills in people with sleep apnea

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 6, 2026

Abstract

Among patients with excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep apneics showed the most impairment on cognitive tasks.

The maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT) may have clinical advantages over the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) for assessing daytime alertness.
Studies suggest that the MWT is more sensitive to treatment-related improvements in sleepiness compared to the MSLT.
Sleep tendency and the ability to remain awake may represent the same physiological process from different perspectives.
Patients receiving suboptimal treatment may not show improvement in daytime sleepiness when evaluated solely by the MSLT.
The MWT could serve as a useful additional test to quantify impairment or treatment effectiveness in clinical settings.

Simplified

Our earliest findings relating sleepiness to cognitive function revealed that, among patients with the symptom of excessive somnolence, sleep apneics were the most impaired on cognitive tasks. Although the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) has been the standard diagnostic test for assessing daytime sleepiness, the maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT) has clinical advantages over the MSLT when the assessment of daytime alertness is the primary goal. A number of studies on patients with sleep apnea and narcolepsy indicate that the MWT is more sensitive to treatment-related improvements in sleepiness. However, sleep tendency, as measured by the MSLT, and ability to remain awake, as measured by the MWT, probably represent the same physiological process viewed from different perspectives. Some patients, particularly those who have received suboptimal treatment, will show no treatment-related improvement in daytime sleepiness if they are evaluated only by the MSLT. We believe that the MWT and MSLT measure different aspects of the central problem of abnormal sleep tendency. The MWT may be a useful adjuvant daytime test in clinical situations where it is necessary to quantify degree of impairment or effectiveness of treatment.

Daytime sleepiness and thinking skills in people with sleep apnea

Abstract

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief