Nature and Science of Sleep (Sep 2022)
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness in Parkinson’s Disease
Abstract
Hanshu Liu,1,* Jingwen Li,1,* Xinyi Wang,1 Jinsha Huang,1 Tao Wang,1 Zhicheng Lin,2 Nian Xiong1 1Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China; 2Laboratory of Psychiatric Neurogenomics, McLean Hospital; Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, 02478, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Nian Xiong, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 13995516750, Email [email protected]: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is one of the most common sleep disorders in Parkinson’s disease (PD). It has attracted much attention due to high morbidity, poor quality of life, increased risk for accidents, obscure mechanisms, comorbidity with PD and limited therapeutic approaches. In this review, we summarize the current literature on epidemiology of EDS in PD to address the discrepancy between subjective and objective measures and clarify the reason for the inconsistent prevalence in previous studies. Besides, we focus on the effects of commonly used antiparkinsonian drugs on EDS and related pharmacological mechanisms to provide evidence for rational clinical medication in sleepy PD patients. More importantly, degeneration of wake-promoting nuclei owing to primary neurodegenerative process of PD is the underlying pathogenesis of EDS. Accordingly, altered wake-promoting nerve nuclei and neurotransmitter systems in PD patients are highlighted to providing clues for identifying EDS-causing targets in the sleep and wake cycles. Future mechanistic studies toward this direction will hopefully advance the development of novel and specific interventions for EDS in PD patients.Keywords: excessive daytime sleepiness, Parkinson’s disease, epidemiology, wakefulness, dopaminergic neurons, dopaminergic agents
