A motor signature of REM sleep behavior disorder

✍ Scribed by Delphine Oudiette; Smaranda Leu-Semenescu; Emmanuel Roze; Marie Vidailhet; Valérie Cochen De Cock; Jean-Louis Golmard; Isabelle Arnulf

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 739 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-3185
• DOI: 10.1002/mds.24044

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Background:

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a common pattern in movements during REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD).

Methods:

We blindly compared video‐monitored movements during RBD (n = 136 clips) and wakefulness/arousal (n = 53 clips) in patients with Parkinson's disease (n = 29) and without parkinsonism (idiopathic RBD, n = 31; narcolepsy, n = 5).

Results:

The scorers accurately guessed the sleep/wake stage of 94% of video clips. Compared with wake movements, RBD movements were faster and more often repeated, jerky, and pseudohallucinatory, not self‐centered, never associated with tremor, and rarely involved the environment in an appropriate manner. A specific posture of the hand (limp wrist with flexed digits) during grasping movements was evidenced during RBD in 48% of patients, reminiscent of hand‐babbling in babies.

Conclusions:

These characteristics of movements were found in the 3 conditions (Parkinson's disease, idiopathic RBD, and primary narcolepsy), delineating a common motor signature of RBD. © 2011 Movement Disorder Society