Dataset Information

REM sleep behavior disorder in Parkinson's disease: a questionnaire-based survey.

ABSTRACT:

Study objectives

REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is reported in up to 50% of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Only a few systematic, large-scale studies have addressed the characteristics of RBD in PD. The aim of the present study is to assess the frequency of RBD in patients with PD and the association with PD characteristics.

Methods

We sent a questionnaire including items on sleep quality, sleep disorders, and PD characteristics and severity to the members of the national PD patients' organization in Switzerland. To assess and characterize RBD, we used a validated 10-item questionnaire (the RBD screening questionnaire, RBDSQ).

Results

Four hundred seventeen PD patients returned the questionnaire, with RBD scores ≥ 6 in 172 patients. These patients had longer disease duration and lower activity of daily living scores, as well as more frequent nighttime awakenings and hallucinations than PD patients with RBDSQ scores < 6. Age, gender, sleep-wake disorders such as excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep apnea, and insomnia, as well as levodopa equivalent dose did not differ between the 2 groups. Patients with RBDSQ score ≥ 6 were more often treated with antidepressants.

Conclusions

We confirm a frequent (42.6%) history of RBD in PD. Probable RBD in PD is associated with more advanced disease as suggested by the longer disease duration and higher impairment of daily living. It is also linked to sleep fragmentation with significantly more nighttime awakenings and with hallucinations. Hallucinations might be linked to emotional disinhibition and probably to activation of limbic structures. Both sleep fragmentation and limbic activation might facilitate the occurrence of RBD in PD.

SUBMITTER: Poryazova R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3525989 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:ObjectivesTo develop a polysomnographic video-based scale for rating the severity of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), to classify the severity of RBD and to determine the intraindividual variability of RBD in patients with Parkinson disease (PD).MethodsTwenty PD patients identified with RBD were investigated with video-supported polysomnography (PSG). Seventy-three motor behavior events during REM sleep were graded visually and polysomnographically on an event-to-event basis according to categorical location of movements: "0" = no visible movement; "1" = slight movements or jerks "2" = movements involving proximal extremities, including violent behavior; "3" = axial involvement including bed falls. Vocalizations were rated as "1" for present or "0" for absent. Ratings were performed by 2 blinded raters. Reliability was calculated with Cohen's ?. Final RBD severity was determined by the highest score given. This rating scale was then used to compare RBD severity and density, calculated as RBD episodes per REM sleep minute over 2 consecutive nights in 10 additional PD patients with RBD. Statistical significance was determined by effect size (Hedges' g) and calculation of the confidence interval.ResultsInterrater reliability of the scale was 0.8 for movement data and 0.89 for vocalization data. Intraindividual RBD density varied significantly (effect size 0.5 ± 0.22; confidence interval 0.2 to 0.79) by factor 2.5 between the 2 PSG nights. Final RBD severity score differed in 60% of patients between nights 1 and 2. Forty percent of patients showed violent behavior, but only on one night. All patients had severely disturbed sleep with reduced sleep efficiency, loss of slow wave sleep, sleep fragmentation, and an increased periodic limb movement (PLM) index.ConclusionThe RBD severity scale (RBDSS) is a reliable, easy-to-use tool for assessing motor events during REM sleep with PSG. Severity and phenomenology of RBD shows a significant variability in the individual PD patient.