Isolated rapid eye movement sleep without atonia in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Monica Puligheddu; Patrizia Congiu; Debora Aricò; Francesco Rundo; Giuseppe Borghero; Francesco Marrosu; Maria Livia Fantini; Raffaele Ferri

doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2016.05.016

Isolated rapid eye movement sleep without atonia in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Sleep Med. 2016 Oct:26:16-22. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2016.05.016. Epub 2016 Oct 11.

Authors

Monica Puligheddu¹, Patrizia Congiu², Debora Aricò³, Francesco Rundo³, Giuseppe Borghero⁴, Francesco Marrosu⁵, Maria Livia Fantini⁶, Raffaele Ferri³

Affiliations

¹ Sleep Disorder Center, Department of Public Health, Clinical & Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, CA, Italy; UOC Neurology, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, CA, Italy. Electronic address: puligheddu@unica.it.
² Sleep Disorder Center, Department of Public Health, Clinical & Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, CA, Italy.
³ Department of Neurology, Oasi Institute for Research on Mental Retardation and Brain Aging (IRCCS), Troina, Italy.
⁴ UOC Neurology, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, CA, Italy.
⁵ Sleep Disorder Center, Department of Public Health, Clinical & Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, CA, Italy; UOC Neurology, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, CA, Italy.
⁶ Neurology Service, CHU Clermont-Ferrand, UFR Medicine, Clermont-Ferrand, France.

PMID: 28007355
DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2016.05.016

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to quantitatively analyze, with the most recent and advanced tools, the presence of periodic leg movements during sleep (PLMS) and/or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep without atonia (RSWA), in a group of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and to assess their eventual correlation with the clinical severity of the disease.

Methods: Twenty-nine ALS patients were enrolled (mean age 63.6 years) along with 28 age-matched "normal" controls (mean age 63.8 years). Functional impairment due to ALS was evaluated using the ALS-Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALS-FRS) and the ALS severity scale (ALSSS). Full video polysomnographic night recordings were obtained, and PLMS were analyzed by considering their number/hour of sleep and periodicity index, the distribution of intermovement intervals, and the distribution during the night. The characteristics of the chin electromyogram (EMG) amplitude during REM sleep were analyzed by means of the automatic atonia index and the number of chin EMG activations (movements).

Results: The ALS patients showed longer sleep latency than the controls, together with an increase in number of stage shifts, increased sleep stage 1, and decreased sleep stage 2. None of the leg PLMS parameters were different between the ALS patients and controls. The REM atonia index was significantly decreased in the ALS patients, and the number of chin movements/hour tended to increase. Both REM atonia index and number of chin movements/hour correlated significantly with the ALS-FRS; REM atonia was higher and chin movements were less in ALS patients with more preserved function (higher scores on the ALS-FRS).

Conclusion: Abnormal REM sleep atonia seemed to be a genuine effect of ALS pathology per se and correlated with the clinical severity of the disease. It is unclear if this might constitute the basis of a possible risk for the development of REM sleep behavior disorder or represent a form of isolated RSWA in ALS.

Keywords: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Atonia index; Periodic leg movements during sleep; Periodicity index; REM sleep without atonia; Sleep.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / physiopathology*
Case-Control Studies
Electromyography
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Muscle Hypotonia
Nocturnal Myoclonus Syndrome
Polysomnography
Risk Factors
Severity of Illness Index
Sleep, REM / physiology*