Medico-legal aspects of disability in narcolepsy

Abstract

Narcolepsy is a severe, chronic, disabling disease affecting almost all personal and social activities. The detrimental effect of narcolepsy on patients' working lives may be severe and long-lasting, but the impairment due to narcolepsy varies widely. Disability assessment is complex because of the lack of objective measures to assess and quantify excessive daytime sleepiness, which is considered to be the main disabling symptom of narcolepsy. This chapter considers the medical aspects of work disability in narcolepsy, and the essential issues clinicians and researchers have to address in providing medical information to assist determination of disability in people with narcolepsy. In conclusion, a work disability classification of narcolepsy is proposed. © 2010 Springer-Verlag New York.