Emotions or situations used for the decision tree:
(1) telling or hearing a joke?
(2) laughing (if negative reaction on jokes)
(3) anger (if positive reaction to jokes)
Response to emotion or situation:
(1) episodes of muscle weakness in the legs and/or buckling of the knees
(2) sagging or drooping of the jaw
(3) abrupt dropping of the head and/or shoulders
(4) abruptly dropped objects from the hands and/or felt weakness in the arms
(5) speech become slurred
(6) fallen to the ground and unable to move
|
Positive Response Seen With
|
Percent of Patients with Clear-Cut Cataplexy
|
|
neither jokes nor laughing
|
0.6%
|
|
laughing but not jokes
|
33%
|
|
jokes but not anger
|
46%
|
|
both jokes and anger
|
92%
|
The patients with clear-cut catoplexy were tested for HLA-DQB1*0602 with the following frequencies:
|
Positive Response Seen With
|
Percent of Patients with Clear-Cut Cataplexy Positive for HLA-DQB1*0602
|
|
neither jokes nor laughing
|
100%
|
|
laughing but not jokes
|
85%
|
|
jokes but not anger
|
possibly 100%
|
|
both jokes and anger
|
88%
|
Testing for HLA-DQB1*0602 would further diagnosis for the first 3 groups but not the fourth.
