Objective: To explore the feasibility of using a body-fixed sensor (BFS) to assess sleep disturbances in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), carriers and non-carriers of mutations associated with the disease.

Background: Sleep disturbances are a common non-motor symptom in PD, markedly affecting quality of life. Current assessment methods are primarily based on patient self-report. An accelerometer-based BFS has the potential to provide a more accurate reflection of sleep.

Methods: Subjects wore a tri-axial accelerometer on the lower back for 7 days. Nighttime sleep was defined as continuous lying bouts between 21:00-08:00, with “personalized” start and stop sleep times. Lying was determined based on the accelerometer’s vertical axis, while sleep interruptions were defined as sitting, standing or walking as percent of total sleep time. Analysis was adjusted for age and disease duration.

Results: A total of 133 subjects participated in this study: 10 healthy subjects (mean age: 58.38±9.06yrs; 80%M; UPDRS-III:2.3±2.26) and 123 patients with PD: idiopathic PD (iPD- n=75, 64.26±11.67yrs; 64%M; UPDRS-III:17.65±12.31; disease duration: 2.73±2.04yrs), LRRK2-G2019S-PD (n=17, 60.33±11.76yrs; 86%M; UPDRS-III:19.07±11.48; disease duration: 3.25±1.96yrs), GBA mutation carriers-PD (n=31,61.55±9.94; 90%M; UPDRS-III:15.35±12.78; disease duration: 4.07±1.94yrs). Sleep duration was similar between controls (8.43±1.58 hrs.) and PD (8.24±1.45 hrs; p=0.663), and between PD groups (iPD:8.14±1.41hrs; LRRK2-PD: 8.11±1.77hrs; GBA-PD: 8.75±1.33; p=0.231). Patients with PD had more (p=0.022) sleep interruptions (3.45±4.69%) than controls (1.84±2.09%). Within the PD group, GBA-PD had more sleep interruptions than the other 2 groups (p=0.025) with greater frequency of walking during the night (GBA-PD: 2.57±6.7%; LRRK2-PD:0.48±0.54%; iPD:0.64±0.86%; p=0.03). Sleep interruptions were associated with poorer cognitive performance (r=0.41, p=0.003) and non-motor symptoms (r=0.37, p=0.006).

Conclusions: These preliminary findings demonstrate the feasibility of using a BFS to assess sleep interruptions in patients with PD and suggests the presence of more impairments in sleep quality among GBA mutation carriers than iPD or LRRK2-PD. These results also demonstrate relationships between decreased sleep quality and earlier and more pronounced cognitive and autonomic dysfunction.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/objective-and-quantifiable-assessment-of-sleep-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease-using-a-wearable-sensor/