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Respiratory Regulation - Clinical Advances pp 125–132Cite as

Validation of the Essener Questionnaire of Age and Sleepiness in the Elderly Using Pupillometry

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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 755))

Abstract

In the elderly population, daytime sleepiness (DS) is a burden that affects quality of life, cognitive and physical functioning as well as health status and morbidity. The measurement of DS in older subjects continues to be a challenge, as there are only few elderly-specific assessment tools available. Therefore, we compared the newly developed Essener Questionnaire of Age and Sleepiness (EQAS) with pupillography, a physiological measure of sleepiness. The aim was to identify EQAS cut-off values for increased daytime sleepiness. For the validation study, we determined EQAS scores and the pupillary unrest index (PUI) of the pupillographic sleepiness test (PST) in 88 geriatric in-patients. We also collected data on age, gender, co-morbidities, and geriatric assessment in these subjects. Of all included patients 37 (42%) completed the PST. Fourteen (16%) subjects refused to participate and 37 (42%) subjects could not complete 11 min required for a valid PUI. Subjects with complete and incomplete pupillometry did not differ in basic assessment parameters of health status or cognitive functioning. EQAS scores correlated significantly with PUI values (r = 0.70; p < 0.001) demonstrating a dose–response relationship. Based on ROC analysis, an EQAS score above 3 was optimal to distinguished sleepy from non-sleepy participants with sensitivity of 67%, specificity of 93% and positive and negative predictive values of 75% and 90%, respectively. In conclusion, the high negative and positive predictive values of the EQAS indicate that this instrument is a useful and valid assessment tool for daytime sleepiness in the elderly. The easy administration of this observational instrument favors its adoption in geriatric medicine.

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Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest in relation to this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zentrum für Altersmedizin, Kliniken Essen Mitte, Am Deimelsberg 34a, 45276, Essen, Germany

    H. Frohnhofen

  2. Faculty of Health, School of Medicine, University Witten-Herdecke, Witten, Germany

    H. Frohnhofen

  3. Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany

    S. Fulda

  4. Zentrum für Altersmedizin, Kliniken Essen Mitte, Essen, Germany

    K. Frohnhofen

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Regensburg, Germany

    R. Popp

Authors
  1. H. Frohnhofen
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  2. S. Fulda
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  3. K. Frohnhofen
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  4. R. Popp
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. Frohnhofen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Research Center, Respiratory Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5, Warsaw, 02-106, Poland

    Mieczyslaw Pokorski

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Frohnhofen, H., Fulda, S., Frohnhofen, K., Popp, R. (2013). Validation of the Essener Questionnaire of Age and Sleepiness in the Elderly Using Pupillometry. In: Pokorski, M. (eds) Respiratory Regulation - Clinical Advances. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 755. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4546-9_17

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