The association between disease severity and sleep-related problems in patients with Parkinson's disease.
Although sleep-related problems are a frequent finding in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), the aetiology is still unknown. We examined the associations between disease severity, sleep-related problems and social status in 116 PD patients participating in the FAQT Study, a prospective, German cohort study evaluating determinants of quality of life in PD patients. 47.4% of the patients reported sleep onset difficulties, 26.7% sleep interruptions, 14.7% had five or more sleep-related events during the night and 71.6% showed symptoms of increased daytime somnolence. The disease severity was significantly associated with sleep-related events (p = 0.01), the depression score with sleep onset difficulties (p = 0.04), sleep interruptions (p = 0.01) and the levodopa dose (p < 0.01). We conclude that depressive symptoms and increasing levodopa doses in PD patients mainly cause sleep onset difficulties and sleep interruptions, while the severity of motor symptoms contributes to sleep-related events like sleep walking, heavy sweating and nightmares.
Happe
Svenja
S
Department of Neurology, University of Münster, Germany. shappe@gwdg.de
Lüdemann
Peter
P
Berger
Klaus
K
D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires