| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of sleep problems in a community-based sample of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in Norway, and their associated factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>176 consecutive PD outpatients (41% females) were included in a study of non-motor symptoms, including sleep problems. All participants responded to the Parkinson’s Disease Sleep Scale (PDSS), where an overall score below 82 or a score below 5 on a sub-item indicate possible sleep problem. Factors associated with sleep were also investigated, with special emphasis on severity of PD, fatigue, mental health and restless legs syndrome (RLS).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean age was 68.5 years (range 35–90); the mean Hoehn and Yahr stage was 2.11 (SD 0.86), and the mean UPDRS part III was 22.3 (SD 11.7). Sleep problems were common among PD patients. While only 17% of the sample had an overall score below 82 on the PDSS, 70% of the patients had a score below 5 on one item. There was no significant association between PD severity and any of the sleep items in the PDSS; whereas fatigue, mental health problems, and RLS were associated with PDSS score.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The current findings call for increased awareness of sleep problems in PD patients, especially focusing on the association with mental health problems, fatigue and RLS.</p>
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