Clinical Characteristics of Sleep Disorders in Patients with Parkinson's Disease

In order to investigate the sleep quality and influencing factors in patients with Parkinson＇s disease（PD）, 201 PD patients were enrolled and underwent extensive clinical evaluations. Subjective sleep evaluation was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index（PSQI）, and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale（ESS）. It was found that poor sleep quality（77.11%） and excessive daytime sleepiness（32.34%） were commonly seen in PD patients and positively correlated with disease severity. Then 70 out of the 201 PD patients and 70 age- and sex-matched controls underwent a polysomnographic recording. The parameters were compared between PD group and control group and the influencing factors of sleep in PD patients were analyzed. The results showed that sleep efficiency（SE） was significantly decreased（P〈0.01）, and sleep latency（SL） and the arousal index（AI） were increased（P〈0.05） in the PD group as compared with those in the control group. SE and total sleep time（TST） were positively correlated with the Hoehn and Yahr（H＆Y） stage. There was significant difference in the extent of hypopnea and hypoxemia between the PD group and the control group（P〈0.05）. Our results indicate that PD patients have an overall poor sleep quality and a high prevalence of sleep disorder, which may be correlated with the disease severity. Respiratory function and oxygen supply are also affected to a certain degree in PD patients.

Clinical Significance of REM Sleep Behavior Disorders and Other Non-motor Symptoms of Parkinsonism

Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder （RBD） is one of the most common non-motor symptoms of parkinsonism, and it may serve as a prodromal marker of neurodegenerative disease. The mechanism underlying RBD is unclear. Several prospective studies have reported that specific non-motor symptoms predict a conversion risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease, including olfactory dysfunction, abnormal color vision, autonomic dysfunction, excessive daytime sleepiness, depression, and cognitive impairment. Parkinson＇s disease （PD） with RBD exhibits clinical heterogeneity with respect to motor and non-motor symptoms compared with PD without RBD. In this review, we describe the main clinical and pathogenic features of RBD, focusing on its association with other non-motor symptoms of parkinsonism.

The XIA's No. 1 Sleeping Prescription for the Treatment of Insomnia of the Deficiency Type:A Clinical Observation of 60 Cases

Objective： To evaluate the therapeutic effects and safety of the XIA＇s No.1 Sleeping Prescription for the treatment of insomnia of the deficiency type. Methods： 120 cases conformed to the diagnostic criteria of the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders-Version 3 （CCMD-3） and were diagnosed as having insomnia of the deficiency type were divided randomly into a treatment group and a control group, 60 cases in each group. The treatment group was treated with the XIA＇s No.1 Sleeping Prescription, while the control group was given estazolam （ling） for 6 weeks. The Athens Insomnia Scale （AIS） was used to evaluate the clinical therapeutic effects, while the treatment emergent symptom scale （TESS） was used to evaluate adverse reactions. Results： The total effective rate of the treatment group （80%） was higher than that of the control group （70%）, but with no significant difference （P〉0.05）. The effective rate for long-term insomnia was 77.8% in the treatment group and 52.4% in the control group, with a significant difference between the two groups （P〈0.05）. The adverse reactions shown in the treatment group were obviously fewer and milder than those in the control group. Conclusion： The XIA＇s No. 1 Sleeping Prescription is effective for insomnia of the deficiency type and with no obvious toxic side effects.