Objective: To investigate which types of personality traits are related to sleep quality in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients.

Background: Sleep disturbance is a common nonmotor symptom of PD. The personality was reported as the strongest predisposing factor in sleep quality and insomnia in healthy population. Little is known about links between personality trait and sleep quality in PD patients.

Methods: We enrolled PD patients who diagnosed according to the United Kingdom Parkinson’s Disease Society brain bank criteria within 5 years after the onset of disease and aged under 80 years. Personality traits were assessed online using the Korean short version of the original NEO PI-R, a 90-item measure of the 5 dimension of personality (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness). It measures 30 facets, 6 for each of the 5 major dimensions of personality. Each item was answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale with responses ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Raw scores were converted to T-scores (mean=50, standard deviation=1) using Korean combined-sex norms (N=7418) to confirm similarities with the Korean normative sample data. Each Sleep quality was measured using the Korean version of the PSQI. The Mann-Whitney tests was used to compare the personality traits.

Results: A total of 40 PD patients (19 males, mean age 65.2±9.0 years) and who diagnosed PD were recruited. None of them were taking antidepressants, antipsychotics and sedatives. In the personality traits, neuroticism T-score was higher in poor sleepers than good sleeper (respectively, 62.0±10.1 vs 53.5±8.4, P=0.006). The other personality domains for extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness showed no difference between poor sleepers and good sleeper groups. (respectively, P=0.242 for extraversion, P=0.645 for openness, P=0.066 for agreeableness, P=0.090 for conscientiousness). There were no significant differences of demographic and behavioral variables between sleep quality groups.

Conclusions: We found that neuroticism is more dominant in PD patients with poor sleep quality. Personality may contribute in poor sleep quality of PD patients and neuroticism might be the predisposing factor in poor sleep quality. Identifying the role of personality traits in sleep quality provides insight into intervention and preventive strategies in PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/personality-traits-and-sleep-quality-in-parkinsons-disease-patients/