REM behavior disorder (RBD) can be one of the first symptoms of childhood narcolepsy

More than one in three adult patients suffering from narcolepsy-cataplexy experience rapid eye movement (REM) behavior disorder (RBD), while RBD in childhood is extremely rare. We present the cases of two girls (aged 9 and 7 years old) with narcolepsy-cataplexy, in whom RBD was one of the first symptoms of the disease. The coincidence of RBD was seen by nocturnal video-polysomnography (v-PSG), and narcolepsy was diagnosed from short sleep latency and multiple sleep onset REMs (SOREMs) during a multiple sleep latency test (MSLT). Both girls were human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQB1*0602 positive, and their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) hypocretin level (Hcrt-1) was extremely low. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.