Sleep Disturbances in Parkinson’s Disease

A common early non-motor symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is sleep disturbance. Indeed, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) are predictors of PD. EDS and RBD are thought to be risk factors for the cognitive disturbances observed in PD. Some researchers have suggested that RBD can be used as a predictor of the pathological progression of PD. Thus far, sleep disturbances have not been recognized as a component in the progression of the disease, and therefore have not been routinely and adequately controlled in this patient population. In this review, we present evidence that the assessment of sleep (i. e. , the presence of fragmented sleep, insomnia, RBD, EDS, and sudden onset of sleep) should be a part of the routine evaluation of patients with PD.