Objective: To report sleep features and symptoms in a longitudinal prospective cohort of people with PSP from Argentina (CAITauP cohort).
Background: Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a primary 4-repeat tau pathology, causes severe axial, ocular motor disability. Several sleep and circadian-rhythm disturbances have been reported in people with PSP (PwPSP) including increase in wake time, rapid eye-movement (REM) decreased, subjective reports of dream-enactment behaviour. All of those were reported in European or North American PwPSP, but none in South American patients.
Method: In a cohort of 160 patients screened and 78 enrolled, we collected sleep information through history taking during in-person baseline visits and follow up visits. Specific questionnaire designed by sleep specialists was administered to cover sleep features and history and symptoms of sleep disorders reported by patient and caregiver.
Results: Preliminary results of 14 people with PSP who responded the questionnaire are: insomnia was present in 28%, daytime sleepiness in 50%, napping 71%; whereas presence of snoring was 64% and sleep apneas in 14%, dream enactment movements in 35% and sleep talking in 43% as well as falls from bed during sleeping time. Nightmares were reported by 14 %, whereas confusion arousal and vivid dreams in 28% and visual hallucinations in 7%. Restless leg symptoms were reported by 35% of PwPSP.
Conclusion: Brainstem dysfunction in PSP affects sleep physiology. We found frequent symptoms of diverse sleep disorders, including respiratory, REM and non-REM parasomnias, as well as RLS in PwPSP from Argentina. This highlights a clear need for prospective, multimodal and ethnically diverse research to better characterize sleep disturbances in PSP with confirmatory video-PSG. Understanding patterns across different clinical PSP variants and disease stages may inform prognosis, improve quality of life, and guide therapeutic.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
B. Couto, M. Gonzaleztoledo, L. Brolese, G. Mizraji, G. Gomezarevalo, O. Gershanik, A. Chade, B. Högl, A. Stefani. Sleep symptoms in people with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy in Argentina [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2026; 41 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/sleep-symptoms-in-people-with-progressive-supranuclear-palsy-in-argentina/. Accessed October 1, 2026.« Back to 2026 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/sleep-symptoms-in-people-with-progressive-supranuclear-palsy-in-argentina/