2024/01/05 by Mohini Bryant‐Ekstrand, Eric Yu, Yo‐El S. Ju +55 · 1 voice · 3 citations
Medicine · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Anxiety #Audiology #Cognition #Dementia #Dementia with Lewy bodies #Depression (economics) #Disease #Electroencephalography #Executive dysfunction #Generalized anxiety disorder #Internal medicine #Medicine #Neuropsychology #Parkinson's disease #Polysomnography #Psychiatry #Psychology #REM sleep behavior disorder #Rapid eye movement sleep #Restless Legs Syndrome Research #Sleep and Wakefulness Research #Traumatic Brain Injury Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/sleep/zsae007
openalex publication_date 2024/01/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
STUDY OBJECTIVES: Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is strongly associated with phenoconversion to an overt synucleinopathy, e.g. Parkinson's disease (PD), Lewy body dementia, and related disorders. Comorbid traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-henceforth "neurotrauma" (NT)-increase the odds of RBD by ~2.5-fold and are associated with an increased rate of service-connected PD in Veterans. Thus, RBD and NT are both independently associated with PD; however, it is unclear how NT influences neurological function in patients with RBD. METHODS: Participants ≥18 years with overnight polysomnogram-confirmed RBD were enrolled between 8/2018 to 4/2021 through the North American Prodromal Synucleinopathy Consortium. Standardized assessments for RBD, TBI, and PTSD history, as well as cognitive, motor, sensory, and autonomic function, were completed. This cross-sectional analysis compared cases (n = 24; RBD + NT) to controls (n = 96; RBD), matched for age (~60 years), sex (15% female), and years of education (~15 years). RESULTS: RBD + NT reported earlier RBD symptom onset (37.5 ± 11.9 vs. 52.2 ± 15.1 years of age) and a more severe RBD phenotype. Similarly, RBD + NT reported more severe anxiety and depression, greater frequency of hypertension, and significantly worse cognitive, motor, and autonomic function compared to RBD. No differences in olfaction or color vision were observed. CONCLUSIONS: This cross-sectional, matched case:control study shows individuals with RBD + NT have significantly worse neurological measures related to common features of an overt synucleinopathy. Confirmatory longitudinal studies are ongoing; however, these results suggest RBD + NT may be associated with more advanced neurological symptoms related to an evolving neurodegenerative process.