Objective: To determine the subjective sleep quality and its association with pathological sleepiness in Veterans with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: Sleep quality issues and pathological sleepiness are common in Parkinson’s disease. Their association is not fully defined although it is highly relevant to the development of effective management strategies.

Method: 92 consecutive Veterans with PD followed at the Houston Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center (PADRECC) were evaluated for subjective sleep quality and grouped as “Poor Sleepers” or “Good Sleepers”, using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). They were also assessed for pathological sleepiness using Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). The cut off scores for these scales were 5 and 10, respectively.

“Poor Sleepers” (PSQI global score > 5) were compared to the “Good Sleepers” (PSQI global score ≤ 5) for the presence of pathological sleepiness (ESS ≥ 10).

Parkinson’s disease severity was assessed in all subjects using modified Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) scale.

Results: 64% of the Veterans with PD (59 out of 92) were subjectively “Poor Sleepers” (PSQI global score > 5), while 36% (33 out of 92) were “Good Sleepers” (PSQI global score ≤ 5).

Pathological sleepiness (ESS ≥ 10) was reported by 55.9 % (33/59) of the “Poor Sleepers” and 54.5% (18/33) of the “Good Sleepers”.

There was no significant difference in the demographic features or the disease severity between the groups.

Conclusion: Approximately two-thirds of the Veterans with Parkinson’s disease report poor sleep quality. Subjective sleep quality reports do not seem to influence the occurrence of pathological sleepiness, which appears to be equally prevalent in the “Poor” and “Good sleepers. This suggests that factors other than subjective sleep quality play a role in causing excessive daytime sleepiness in Veterans with Parkinson’s disease. Further research is needed in this regard.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/subjective-sleep-quality-and-pathological-sleepiness-in-veterans-with-parkinsons-disease/