Excessive Daytime Sleepiness and Nighttime Sleep Quality in Thai Patients with Parkinson’s Disease
Suwanna Setthawatcharawanich MD*, Kitti Limapichat MD*, Pornchai Sathirapanya MD*, Kanitpong Phabphal MD*
Affiliation : * Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Songklanagarind Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand
Objective : To study the prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and nighttime sleep quality (NSQ) in Thai patients
with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and compare their sleep characteristics with controls.
Material and Method: The Epworth Sleep Scale (ESS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and questions about
sudden onset of sleep (SOS) were applied in a study of 73 PD patients without dementia to that of healthy controls.
Results : There were 36 females and 37 males with a mean (SD) age of 65.9 (9.1) years. All patients had a mean Hoehn and
Yahr stage of 2.0 (range 0 to 4). EDS and poor NSQ were found in 15.1% and 37% of patients, respectively. There was a
significant difference in the mean PSQI total scores (p = 0.003) between patients and controls. The subset analysis of the
components of PSQI revealed that sleep disturbance and the need of medication to sleep had significantly higher scores
than those of controls. Twenty point five percent of patients had experienced SOS occurring during driving, meals, and
working. Four point one percent of patient with SOS had had an accident.
Conclusion : This study demonstrated a prevalence of EDS and poor NSQ in Thai patients with PD. Screening for these
two problems among PD patients should be considered in routine practice evaluations.
Keywords : Excessive daytime sleepiness, Nighttime sleep quality, Parkinson’s disease
