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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1422555

Online Screening for Excessive Daytime Sleepiness: A Feasibility Study

Provisionally accepted
Jan Hlodak Jan Hlodak 1Andrea Madarasova Geckova Andrea Madarasova Geckova 1,2Simona Carnakovic Simona Carnakovic 3,4Eva Feketeova Eva Feketeova 4,5*
  • 1 Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 2 Institute of Health Psychology and Research Methodology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Kosice, Slovakia
  • 3 First Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Kosice, Slovakia
  • 4 Louis Pasteur University Hospital, Kosice, Slovakia
  • 5 Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Kosice, Slovakia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) can have a significant impact on health and quality of life but may remain undiagnosed due to low awareness and underestimation of the clinical impact of the symptoms. An online screening tool supported by media campaigns might increase awareness and help detect undiagnosed cases of EDS and narcolepsy. The aim of this study was to develop an online screening method, along with a media campaign focusing on EDS, and evaluate its feasibility.Methods: Online screening supported by a media campaign targeting young and middle-aged adults (18-45 years old) were developed and implemented over a period of one year starting from November 2022. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale was used to identify EDS, and the Swiss Narcolepsy Scale was used to identify narcolepsy. In addition, the data on sociodemographic characteristics, selected sleep and health indicators and lifestyle behaviors were collected to indicate the etiology of the EDS. Feasibility, e.g., implementation and practicality, was assessed by the response rate, response to the promotion strategy, time spent on the tool, sample characteristics, and the prevalence of identified EDS and narcolepsy cases.Results: A total of 2,390 people opened the screening link; 568 of them completed the online screening (23.8%), and most of them (n=437, 76.9%) left their contact data to receive feedback.We identified 171 (30.1%) respondents at risk of EDS and 61 (10.7%) at risk of narcolepsy. The mean time of the screening was 15 minutes.An online screening tool supported with a campaign seems to be a feasible way to increase awareness about EDS and prevent delayed detection of EDS cases.

    Keywords: Narcolepsy, Online screening, campaign, feasibility, excessive daytime sleepiness

    Received: 24 Apr 2024; Accepted: 10 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hlodak, Madarasova Geckova, Carnakovic and Feketeova. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Eva Feketeova, Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Kosice, Slovakia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.