Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jun 1;1(2):89-96.
doi: 10.1002/mdc3.12025.

Sleep Disorders in Atypical Parkinsonism

Sabra M Abbott  1 , Aleksandar Videnovic  2
Affiliations

Sleep Disorders in Atypical Parkinsonism

Sabra M Abbott et al. Mov Disord Clin Pract. .

Abstract

Sleep disorders are commonly seen in atypical parkinsonism, with particular disorders occurring more frequently in specific parkinsonian disorders. Multiple systems atrophy (MSA) is a synucleinopathy often associated with nocturnal stridor which is a serious, but treatable condition highly specific to MSA. In addition, this disorder is strongly associated with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD), which is also seen in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). RBD is far less prevalent in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), which is a tauopathy. Insomnia and impaired sleep architecture are the most common sleep abnormalities seen in PSP. Corticobasilar degeneration (CBD) is also a tauopathy, but has far fewer sleep complaints associated with it than PSP. In this manuscript we review the spectrum of sleep dysfunction across the atypical parkinsonian disorders, emphasize the importance of evaluating for sleep disorders in patients with parkinsonian symptoms, and point to sleep characteristics that can provide diagnostic clues to the underlying parkinsonian disorder.

Keywords: REM sleep behavior disorder; Sleep disorders; corticobasal degeneration; dementia with lewy bodies; insomnia; multiple system atrophy; progressive supranuclear palsy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overlap between sleep disorders in the atypical parkinsonisms. MSA and LBD are synucleinopathies (dark gray), whereas PSP and CDB are tauopathies (light gray). EDS can be observed in all disorders, whereas RBD is more common in the synucleinopathies. LBD, Lewy body dementia.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ghorayeb I, Yekhlef F, Chrysostome V, Balestre E, Bioulac B, Tison F. Sleep disorders and their determinants in multiple system atrophy. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2002;72:798–800. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Papp MI, Kahn JE, Lantos PL. Glial cytoplasmic inclusions in the CNS of patients with multiple system atrophy (striatonigral degeneration, olivopontocerebellar atrophy and Shy‐Drager syndrome). J Neurol Sci 1989;94:79–100. - PubMed
    1. Ahmed Z, Asi YT, Sailer A, et al. The neuropathology, pathophysiology and genetics of multiple system atrophy. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 2012;38:4–24. - PubMed
    1. Suzuki M, Saigusa H, Shibasaki K, Kodera K. Multiple system atrophy manifesting as complex sleep‐disordered breathing. Auris Nasus Larynx 2010;37:110–113. - PubMed
    1. Cormican LJ, Higgins S, Davidson AC, Howard R, Williams AJ. Multiple system atrophy presenting as central sleep apnoea. Eur Respir J 2004;24:323–325. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources