Specific motor patterns of arousal disorders in adults: a video-polysomnographic analysis of 184 episodes

To compile an objective accurate description of the motor patterns of adult arousal disorders (ADs).

We reviewed 59 nocturnal video-polysomnographic (VPSG) recordings of 30 adult patients (>15 years) with a history of sleepwalking (SW). We scrutinized the semeiology of all 184 episodes recorded, classifying them into three groups according to three semeiological motor patterns characterized by increasing intensity and complexity: simple arousal movements (pattern I), characterized by head flexion/extension, head flexion/extension and limb movement or head flexion/extension and partial trunk flexion/extension; rising arousal movements (pattern II), characterized by a complete trunk flexion with patient sitting up in bed; and complex arousal with ambulatory movements (pattern III) characterized by SW. The VPSG recordings were compared to those of 10 healthy controls.

AD patients presented with 169 pattern I, 37 pattern II, and nine pattern III episodes. Pattern I developed into pattern II in 17 cases and into pattern II followed by pattern III in five patients. Pattern II developed into pattern III in four patients. Onset was abrupt in 55% of the episodes. Episodes lasted a mean (±standard deviation) of 33 ± 35 s. Movements tended to halt temporarily during 72% of the episodes. We recorded 248 movements during sleep in the healthy controls, none of whom presented with AD patterns.

We identified three specific motor patterns in AD patients not previously reported and not observed in healthy controls. Identification of these patterns could be important for diagnosis and serve as the basis for a new definition of AD in adults.