Background and aim of the work: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) is a serious complication in cirrhotic patients necessitating many precautions. Sleep disturbances like excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) are common among cirrhotic patients and have deleterious effects on their quality of life. There are many questionnaires designed to diagnose sleep disturbances like Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) which is designed to assess daytime sleepiness. The aim of this study is to assess the role of EDS measured by ESS in diagnosis of MHE in patients with liver cirrhosis. Patients and Methods: eighty cirrhotic patients were included in this study. They were divided according to psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES) results into two groups group I: forty patients with MHE and group II: forty patients without MHE. ESS model was applied to the patients of both groups and their results were compared. Results: The results of ESS and the frequency of patients suffering from EDS were higher in group І compared to group Π but without statistically significant difference. Using the AUROC test ESS, at a cut off value 6, could predict presence of MHE with 80% sensitivity and 45% specificity. Conclusion: there is no significant association between EDS, measured by ESS, and presence of MHE in cirrhotic patients without overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE). ESS is not accurate in predicting presence of MHE.