A new study has identified some of the risk factors for rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder, linking it to serious psychological distress.
People with this condition have disrupted sleep and can sometimes act out violent or action-filled dreams by shouting, flailing their arms, punching or kicking.
Sleep researcher Dr Ronald Postuma, of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and colleagues took information from 30,097 older adults, and found that 958 of them (3.2%) had possible REM sleep behaviour disorder. Those with other brain-related conditions were not included in the analysis.
Compared with people without the condition, those with the condition were more than 2.5 times more likely to be taking antidepressants. They were also significantly more likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental illness or psychological distress.
The rate of the disorder was twice as high in men than women, and sufferers were more likely to be moderate to heavy drinkers, have fewer years of education, a lower income, and to have smoked.
Details appeared in Neurology yesterday (26 December). Dr Postuma says: "While much is still unknown about REM sleep behaviour disorder, it can be caused by medications or it may be an early sign of another neurologic condition like Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies or multiple system atrophy.
"Identifying lifestyle and personal risk factors linked to this sleep disorder may lead to finding ways to reduce the chances of developing it."
But he adds: "Our research does not show that these risk factors cause REM sleep behaviour disorder, it only shows they are linked. Our hope is that our findings will help guide future research, especially because REM sleep behaviour disorder is such a strong sign of future neurodegenerative disease."
Postuma, R. et al. Neurology 26 December 2018
http://n.neurology.org/lookup/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000006849
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