Poor Sleep Quality and Progression of Gait Impairment in an Incident Parkinson’s Disease Cohort

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: O’Dowd, Seán^{a; *} | Galna, Brook^{a; b} | Morris, Rosie^a | Lawson, Rachael A.^a | McDonald, Claire^a | Yarnall, Alison J.^a | Burn, David J.^a | Rochester, Lynn^a | Anderson, Kirstie N.^c

Affiliations: [a] Institute of Neuroscience, Institute for Ageing, Newcastle University, UK | [b] School of Biomedical Sciences, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK | [c] Newcastle Regional Sleep Service, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, Freeman Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Dr. Seán O’Dowd, Clinical Ageing Research Unit/Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Campus for Ageing and Vitality, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5PL, UK. Tel.: +44 191 2081278; E-mail: stodowd@gmail.com.

Abstract: Abnormal sleep may associate with cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Furthermore, sleep dysfunction may associate with worse motor outcome. We hypothesised that PD patients with poor quality sleep would have greater progression in gait dysfunction, due to structural and functional overlap in networks subserving sleep and gait regulation. 12 PD patients and 12 age-matched controls completed longitudinal follow-up over 36 months. Poor sleep efficiency and greater sleep fragmentation correlated significantly with progression of step-width variability, a gait characteristic mediated by postural control, providing evidence that poor sleep in PD is associated with a more rapid deterioration in gait.

Keywords: Gait, pedunculopontine nucleus, Parkinson’s disease, postural control, sleep quality

DOI: 10.3233/JPD-161062

Journal: Journal of Parkinson's Disease, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 465-470, 2017