A Generation Asleep? Narcolepsy in Teens and Young Adults
By the Children's Health Defense Team
Narcolepsy, a severe sleep disorder that typically emerges in adolescence, appears to be on the rise in the U.S. A new analysis of U.S. health care claims reports prevalence roughly 50% higher than the upper limit cited in most prior studies, with the highest incidence in late adolescence and the early 20s.
As with many of the chronic conditions that plague today’s youth, narcolepsy researchers suspect that environmental exposures in genetically susceptible individuals are a key trigger. This perspective is compatible with recent studies proposing that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease. Could influenza vaccines—or vaccines against other infections—be contributing to narcolepsy?
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