Review ArticleCatathrenia: respiratory disorder or parasomnia?

- ICSD-3 classifies catathrenia in the respiratory disorders, not as a parasomnia as in ICSD-2.
- When reviewing the characteristics of the reported participants, it was possible to corroborate a wide spectrum of patients.
- The possibility of having subgroups or being different disorders should not be ruled out.
- More research is needed to further examine the nature of this disorder.

BackgroundThe International Classification of Sleep Disorders - Third Edition (ICSD-3) classifies catathrenia among the respiratory disorders and not as a parasomnia as in ICSD-2. Few patients have been reported during these years, and the clinical description of the sound is different from group to group. In fact, there is no full agreement about its nature, origin, meaning, and treatment.Methods and resultsIn this paper we review the literature on catathrenia focusing on the characteristics of the sound, demographics of the patients, aetiology, response to treatment, etc., in order to support its classification as a respiratory disorder or a parasomnia. We also discuss the possibility of Catathrenia being not one disorder but two variants or two different disorders.