Objective: To describe the prevalence of the main sleep disorders in patients with Parkinson’s disease at a referral outpatient clinic for movement disorders.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, with motor and non-motor manifestations. Among non-motor disorders, sleep disorders are one of the most prevalent and impacting phenomena.

Method: This is a cross-sectional observational study carried out in a movement disorders outpatient clinic, which analyzed patients diagnosed with PD, demographic data (age, sex, marital status, education, occupation), duration of illness, severity and pharmacological treatment. The questionnaires used were the Parkinson’s Disease Sleepiness Scale (PDSS), the Epworth Sleep Scale (ESS), the REM Sleep Behavior Disorder Screening Questionnaire (REM-QT) and the modified Hoehn and Yahr Scale (H&Y).

Results: Between January and March 2022, 64 patients were enrolled, with a mean age of 66 years (±12.5) and median disease duration of 9 years (IQR 7-11), all patients were on levodopa therapy and 27 (42.2%) were using dopamine agonists. Among the main comorbidities, 23 (35.9%) of the patients had depression. The total mean score of the PDSS was 101.92 (±20.3), with the item with the highest mean (8.94) corresponding to item 9 (urinary incontinence), and the lowest (3.81) to item 3 (maintenance insomnia). It was found that 32.9% of the patients had excessive daytime sleepiness, considered as a score >10 on the ESS. Thirty-one (48.4%) of the patients were positive for REM sleep behavior disorder according to REM-QT.

Conclusion: We concluded that sleep disturbances are non-motor phenomena of significant prevalence in PD patients in our population, especially REM sleep behavior disorders and excessive daytime sleepiness. Reinforcing the importance of investigating these symptoms, including the use of specific tools, since they are treatable phenomena with an impact on quality of life.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/prevalence-of-sleep-disorders-in-parkinsons-disease-patients-at-a-brazilian-movement-disorders-center-in-2022/