Sleep quality assessment in 35 Parkinson's disease patients in the Fann Teaching Hospital, Dakar, Senegal

Abstract

IntroductionSleep disorders are diverse in Parkinson's disease. We aimed to assess the quality of sleep in patients with Parkinson's disease in an African population. MethodsIn a transversal and prospective study from April to June 2014, all parkinsonian patients followed at the Fann Teaching Hospital Neurology Clinic (Dakar, Senegal) were assessed using the Hoehn and Yahr's scale and filled out the following questionnaires: Parkinson's disease sleep scale (PDSS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). A PDSS score<82 (or a subscore<5) and a PSQI score>5 indicated poor quality or impaired sleep. An ESS score>10 indicated excessive daytime sleepiness. We used the Pearson coefficient to search for correlation between age, disease stage, disease duration, and the importance of sleep impairment. ResultsHoehn and Yahr staging was 2.42±0.90 in the 35 patients (60% male, mean age 65.7±7.4years, disease duration 32.4±23.4months). The mean total PDSS score was 99.5±24.1 and 74.3% of the patients had an abnormally high PSQI score, indicating high frequency and intensity of sleep disorders. Most frequent disorders were pain or cramps interrupting sleep, night waking to urinate and fatigue or sleepiness on waking. Patients exhibited excessive diurnal sleepiness in 22.9% of the cases; they often had an abnormal PSQI score. Both the total PDSS score and the difficulty to sleep increased with disease stage, but not with age or disease duration. ConclusionWe found evidence of major alteration of sleep quality in Senegalese Parkinson patients.