Objective: The aim of our study is to compare rhythmic skills in patients with idiopathic REM sleep behaviour disorder (IRBD), healthy controls, and patients with Parkinson’s disease PD and to identify potential rhythmic markers related with other early markers of PD.

Background: The development of neuroprotective drugs in PD increases the need for early markers of the disease. At prodromal stage, IRBD seems to be the most robust predictor for PD. However, this sleep disorder is not present in all patients. Other markers such as olfactory deficits, visual changes, and autonomic and depressive symptoms exist but lack specificity. Patients with PD suffer from timing distortions in the perception and production of rhythmic events. These rhythmic skills abnormalities are easy to detect with a rhythmic test, implemented on a tablet application.

Method: Demographic and clinical characteristics, rhythmic skills, depressive symptoms and olfaction measures were compared in 21 patients with IRBD, 38 patients with Parkinson’s disease and 38 control subjects matched for age and sex and educational level. Patients with IRBD also had dopamine transporter imagery.

Results: Subjects with IRBD tapped faster and with greater variability at unpaced tapping and at tapping with music, and had impaired anisochrony detection with music compared to controls. They did not differ from patients with PD. Unpaced tapping variability was correlated with olfaction and dopamine uptake measures.

Conclusion: There is evidence of rhythmic disorders in subjects with IRBD; this impairment is correlated with other early markers for PD. Testing rhythmic skills with simple and inexpensive tasks may be promising for screening for potential future PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/rhythmic-disorders-in-idiopathic-rbd-a-potential-new-marker-for-future-pd/