Abstract
Sleep disorders are frequent in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Sleep disorders decrease PD patients' quality of life, and caregivers of PD patients, who need to help them with turning over in bed and going to the restroom, also tend to suffer from sleep disorders. It is important to understand the realities of sleep disorders of PD patients to support them and their caregivers, so we have done a follow-up study of sleep disorders of PD patients. An evaluation of sleep-wake patterns as measured by a wrist-worn activity monitor, and a questionnaire survey concerning sleep and sleepiness was done for 5 PD patients who were able to participate in the study in fiscal year 2005. These 5 PD patients were part of a group of 10 PD patients who participated in an investigation done in fiscal year 2003. The 2005 evaluation suggested that excessive daytime sleepiness of PD patients tends to become stronger over time. We did not observe this tendency in nighttime sleep disorders. We did find in the survey responses, that PD patients suffer from a variety of sleep problems, and the severity of these reported problems changes over time. Three patients whose sleep efficiency improved had taken steps such as wearing diapers and making a habit of bathing in the middle of the night. It appears that taking these steps allowed these patients to alleviate their nighttime sleep disorders.
