Comportements sexuels pendant le sommeil : à propos d'un cas de sexsomnie

We report here the case of a 27-year-old man who suffers from sexsomnia, a rare and poorly studied parasomnia. This patient regularly attempts to have a sexual intercourse with his spouse while he is asleep. The sleep recording shows several sudden awakenings from slow-wave sleep, preceded by hypersynchronous waves, two characteristics found in sleepwalkers. Because the patients are often ashamed, or not informed by their spouse, sexsomnia could be under-diagnosed. However, sexomnia could have serious forensic consequences. Thus, we recommend the doctors to be particularly attentive and to ask for the presence of sexual behaviors asleep during the clinical interview, especially in patients with sleepwalking, confusional arousals or sleep terrors.