Periodic hypersomnolence in a young female patient: a case report and literature review

Abstract

Background Kleine–Levin syndrome (KLS) is a disease with periodic hypersomnolence accompanied by abnormal behavior with a rare prevalence in female. Case presentation Here, we report a young lady with chief complaint of hypersomnolence for 6 years of visits and any history of sleep attack, sleep paralysis, and cataplexy. Polysomnography was performed for the patient. The respiratory disturbance index was normal. In MSLT the patient had two SOREMs with mean sleep latency of 7 min. She was diagnosed as Kleine–Levin syndrome as the sleepiness symptoms had a periodic pattern without other characteristics of central hypersomnolence disorders. The patient did not report behavioral characteristics of KLS reported in previous literature. She improved spontaneously after a while in follow-ups without any further treatment. Conclusions Although KLS is reported rarely in female gender and there are previous defined behavioral symptoms for this syndrome, periodic pattern of sleepiness should raise this diagnosis after exclusion of other hypersomnolence causes.