The course of insomnia in Parkinson's disease

- Insomnia is a common but not persistent symptom in PD.
- Insomnia and depression are closely related.
- Motor fluctuations and use of dopamine agonists are associated with more severe insomnia in PD.

IntroductionInsomnia is a debilitating symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD) that has been scarcely investigated in a longitudinal design. Knowledge of factors associated with occurrence of insomnia may provide clues for an increased understanding of underlying pathophysiology and facilitate early detection.The objective of this study is to examine the course and factors associated with longitudinal changes in insomnia severity in patients with PD.MethodsAnalyses were performed in data of the SCOPA-PROPARK cohort, a 5-year longitudinal cohort study (2003-2011) of 421 PD patients who have been examined annually. Linear mixed models were used to identify factors associated with longitudinal changes in scores of the SCOPA-SLEEP-Nighttime sleep (NS) problems section. A generalized estimating equations (GEE) analysis was performed to determine which baseline variables were associated with the different aspects of insomnia (sleep initiation or maintenance difficulty).ResultsBaseline SCOPA-SLEEP-NS scores were available for 412 patients, of whom 110 (27%) had insomnia (i.e. score ≥ 7). Of the remaining 302 patients, 99 (33%) developed insomnia at some point during follow-up. More severe depressive symptoms, motor fluctuations, higher dopamine agonist doses and sleep medication use were independently associated with higher SCOPA-SLEEP-NS scores over time. GEE analysis did not identify an unique set of determinants that affected specific aspects of insomnia.ConclusionThe presence of depressive symptoms, motor fluctuations and the use of higher doses of dopamine agonists are associated with more severe insomnia. Attention to these aspects could potentially contribute to a better management of insomnia symptoms in PD.