Excessive daytime sleepiness and nighttime sleep quality in Thai patients with Parkinson's disease

To study the prevalence ofexcessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and nighttime sleep quality (NSQ) in Thai patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and compare their sleep characteristics with controls.

The Epworth Sleep Scale (ESS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and questions about sudden onset of sleep (SOS) were applied in a study of 73 PD patients without dementia to that of healthy controls.

There were 36 females and 37 males with a mean (SD) age of 65.9 (9.1) years. All patients had a mean Hoehn and Yahr stage of 2.0 (range 0 to 4). EDS and poor NSQ were found in 15.1% and 37% of patients, respectively. There was a significant difference in the mean PSQI total scores (p = 0.003) between patients and controls. The subset analysis of the components of PSQI revealed that sleep disturbance and the need of medication to sleep had significantly higher scores than those of controls. Twenty point five percent of patients had experienced SOS occurring during driving, meals, and working. Four point one percent ofpatient with SOS had had an accident.

This study demonstrated a prevalence of EDS and poor NSQ in Thai patients with PD. Screening for these two problems among PD patients should be considered in routine practice evaluations.