Sleep disturbances in Parkinson's disease patients and spouses

The prevalence of self-rated sleep disturbance in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and their spouses was compared with healthy controls, and the association of sleep disturbance with demographic, psychological, and disease variables was assessed.

The sleep ratings from three groups, PD patients, their spouses, and healthy controls, were compared using analyses of variance. Stepwise regressions were used to predict sleep disturbance for each group and gender.

Participants completed questionnaires as part of a nationwide survey in Germany.

Participants included 153 PD-spouse pairs and a group of 103 healthy controls.

Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and self-ratings of sleep disturbance, stress level, and disease symptoms (for PD patients).

Sleep disturbances were significantly higher in women than in men in all groups. For PD patients, sleep disturbance occurred frequently in 25% of male and 41% of female participants and was best predicted by the patient's depression rating. For spouses, frequent sleep disturbance was reported by 27% of male and 48% of females and was likewise predicted by the spouse's own rating of depression. A second, relatively less common type of sleep disturbance was also reported by spouses. This disturbance was associated with waking during the night to help the patient and was best predicted by patient factors.

Improvement of sleep quality of caregivers may be an important component of treatment to reduce distress caused by PD.