REM sleep behaviour disorder in elderly subjects with epilepsy: Frequency and clinical aspects of the comorbidity

Undiagnosed or misdiagnosed RBD can coexist with epilepsy in the elderly. Increased awareness of this potential comorbidity may help to prevent misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment of affected patients. The ultimate neurobiological meaning of the coexistence of RBD and seizures is still unclear. The two conditions could co-occur by chance; alternatively they may both be underlain by neurodegenerative processes. In cases of seizures during sleep the two disorders may, hypothetically, also show interactions (similarly to what has been documented in feline models of generalised and focal epilepsy with REM sleep “without atonia” and “without EEG desynchrony” induced by pontine dissociation techniques.