title: Excessive fragmentary myoclonus in Machado-Joseph disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Machado-Joseph disease (MJD) is a neurodegenerative disease which usually presents several clinical findings including cerebellar ataxia and other extracerebellar features, such as Parkinsonism, dystonia, peripheral neuropathy, and lower motor neuron disease. Some data have demonstrated a high frequency of sleep disorders in these patients, including excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD), and restless legs syndrome (RLS). Herein, we aimed to describe the high frequency of excessive fragmentary myoclonus (EFM) in MJD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited 44 patients with MJD and 44 healthy controls. All participants underwent an all-night polysomnography (PSG). EFM was evaluated and defined in accordance to the criteria of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Half of the MJD patients (n = 22) had EFM diagnosed through PSG, though no healthy control participant presented this finding (P < .0001). In the MJD group, older participants and men had a higher frequency of EFM. There was no correlation between EFM and the following data: body mass index (BMI), apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), EDS, loss of atonia during REM sleep, periodic limb movements during sleep (PLMS), RLS, RBD, ataxia severity, the number of cytosine-adenine-guanine trinucleotide (CAG) repeats, disease duration, sleep efficiency, sleep fragmentation, and sleep stage percentages between patients with or without EFM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  EFM is highly prevalent in patients with MJD. Our study demonstrates that EFM must be included in the clinical spectrum of sleep disorders in MJD patients.
authors: Department of Neurology, Sleep Research Center, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: diogofsan@yahoo.com.br.
authors: Diogo Fernandes
authors: DF
authors: dos Santos
authors: Department of Neurology, Division of General Neurology and Ataxia Unit, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors: José Luiz
authors: JL
authors: Pedroso
authors: Department of Neurology, Division of General Neurology and Ataxia Unit, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Pedro
authors: P
authors: Braga-Neto
authors: Department of Neurology, Sleep Research Center, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Giselle Melo Fontes
authors: GM
authors: Silva
authors: Department of Neurology, Sleep Research Center, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Luciane Bizari Coin
authors: LB
authors: de Carvalho
authors: Department of Neurology, Sleep Research Center, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Lucila B F
authors: LB
authors: Prado
authors: Department of Neurology, Division of General Neurology and Ataxia Unit, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Orlando Graziani P
authors: OG
authors: Barsottini
authors: Department of Neurology, Sleep Research Center, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Gilmar Fernandes
authors: GF
authors: do Prado
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017827:Machado-Joseph Disease / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020189:Nocturnal Myoclonus Syndrome / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017286:Polysomnography; D012307:Risk Factors; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Excessive fragmentary myoclonus; Machado–Joseph disease; Nonmotor symptoms; Polysomnography; Sleep disorders; Spinocerebellar ataxia