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Sleep disturbances by disease type and stage in Huntington's disease
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Sleep disturbances by disease type and stage in Huntington's disease

Amy C Ogilvie, Peg C Nopoulos and Jordan L Schultz
Parkinsonism & related disorders, Vol.91, pp.13-18
10/2021
DOI: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2021.08.011
PMCID: PMC8842493
PMID: 34450461

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Abstract

Sleep disturbances are a common symptom in patients with Huntington's disease (HD). However, it is unclear when in the disease course of HD sleep disturbances become more frequent compared to the general population. This study investigated the frequency and odds of developing sleep disturbances between adults with HD or at-risk for HD and non-HD controls. Participants from the Enroll-HD study were split by both disease type and disease severity using CAG length, diagnostic confidence level, and total functional capacity score. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios adjusted for age, sex, tobacco and alcohol use, depression and psychosis scores, and cognition to compare HD groups to non-HD controls. Cox proportional hazards models and Kaplan Meier curves were used to determine differences in probabilities of developing sleep disturbances and how sleep disturbances are related to age at motor onset. There were significant differences between HD participants and non-HD controls in both the disease type and disease stage analyses (p < 0.001). The odds of a sleep disturbance increased with worsening disease stage and was highest in those with juvenile HD. The development of a sleep disorder in manifest HD participants was observed to be around the time of disease onset. Sleep disturbances are more frequent in HD patients than those without HD. There are also differences based on disease type and stage. This is supplemented by the finding that the onset of sleep disturbances occurs near the time of motor onset of HD. •Timing of sleep disturbances is unknown in Huntington's disease (HD).•Participants with HD had greater odds of having sleep disturbances than non-HD controls.•Sleep disturbances were more likely in those in a more severe disease stage.•Onset of sleep disturbances appeared around the same time as HD motor onset.•Detection of sleep disturbances may begin around motor onset and allow for earlier treatment prior to severe disease.
Disease progression Huntington disease Sleep Sleep wake disorders

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