ABSTRACT

Sleep problems in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients can be divided into three categories (Table 7.1): sleep disruption and sleep disorders, parasomnias, and excessive daytime sleepiness.

In a national survey of 220 PD patients conducted in England, Lees et al1 found that sleep complaints were practically universal, with immobility and nocturia being the most disturbing factors. Tandberg et al2 carried out a community-based epidemiologic study in Norway that included 245 patients with PD who were compared with 100 patients with diabetes and another 100 healthy elderly people. Sixty percent of the PD subjects had sleep problems (considered moderate to severe in one-third), compared with 46% and 33% of the diabetic and healthy groups, respectively. Hypnotic medications were used by approximately 40% of the PD group, which is significantly higher than the other groups. Sleep problems were correlated with symptoms of depression and with the duration of L-dopa (levo - dopa) treatment. Happe et al3 also highlighted the importance of depression when they reported higher ratings on the Zung Depression Scale for 56 PD patients compared with an age-matched control group. Depression was correlated with the duration of disease.