{"title":"Richard Caton's \"case of narcolepsy\": obesity hypoventilation syndrome in the 1880s?","authors":"Kariem Elhadd, Andrew J Larner","doi":"10.1007/s11325-025-03299-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A literary account of an obese individual manifesting excessive daytime sleepiness, Joe the Fat Boy, appeared in Charles Dickens's work The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club published in 1837. Adoption of the terms \"Pickwickian\" and \"Pickwickian syndrome\" in the medical literature did not occur until much later, for example by William Osler in 1918. We present a report published in 1889 by the English physician Richard Caton in which he described an obese patient with clinical evidence of excessive daytime sleepiness, nocturnal sleep apnoeas with persistent thoraco-abdominal movements, and cyanosis indicative of oxygen desaturation. Caton's carefully observed case adds to the history of obesity hypoventilation syndrome and obstructive sleep apnoea.</p>","PeriodicalId":21862,"journal":{"name":"Sleep and Breathing","volume":"29 2","pages":"143"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Sleep and Breathing","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-025-03299-y","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
A literary account of an obese individual manifesting excessive daytime sleepiness, Joe the Fat Boy, appeared in Charles Dickens's work The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club published in 1837. Adoption of the terms "Pickwickian" and "Pickwickian syndrome" in the medical literature did not occur until much later, for example by William Osler in 1918. We present a report published in 1889 by the English physician Richard Caton in which he described an obese patient with clinical evidence of excessive daytime sleepiness, nocturnal sleep apnoeas with persistent thoraco-abdominal movements, and cyanosis indicative of oxygen desaturation. Caton's carefully observed case adds to the history of obesity hypoventilation syndrome and obstructive sleep apnoea.
期刊介绍：
The journal Sleep and Breathing aims to reflect the state of the art in the international science and practice of sleep medicine. The journal is based on the recognition that management of sleep disorders requires a multi-disciplinary approach and diverse perspectives. The initial focus of Sleep and Breathing is on timely and original studies that collect, intervene, or otherwise inform all clinicians and scientists in medicine, dentistry and oral surgery, otolaryngology, and epidemiology on the management of the upper airway during sleep.
Furthermore, Sleep and Breathing endeavors to bring readers cutting edge information about all evolving aspects of common sleep disorders or disruptions, such as insomnia and shift work. The journal includes not only patient studies, but also studies that emphasize the principles of physiology and pathophysiology or illustrate potentially novel approaches to diagnosis and treatment. In addition, the journal features articles that describe patient-oriented and cost-benefit health outcomes research. Thus, with peer review by an international Editorial Board and prompt English-language publication, Sleep and Breathing provides rapid dissemination of clinical and clinically related scientific information. But it also does more: it is dedicated to making the most important developments in sleep disordered breathing easily accessible to clinicians who are treating sleep apnea by presenting well-chosen, well-written, and highly organized information that is useful for patient care.
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