Prevalence of sleep disturbances in Parkinson's disease patients during the COVID-19 lockdown in Romania

Background and aims: Patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) may experience a broad spectrum of sleep disturbances. COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictive measures that were imposed have impacted several aspects of life, including sleep. Objectives: To identify the prevalence of various sleep disorders among PD patients in Romania during the national lockdown period imposed in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Prospective online survey on 134 PD patients from the whole Romania. The online survey included items regarding socio-demographic data, various questions related to sleep disorders and the way these sleep disturbances changed during the quarantine period during 16th March - 14th May 2020. Results: There were 74 men (55%), mean age 61.3±5.42 years [range 56-67 years]. Most patients reported at least one sleep disturbances, the most prevalent symptom being insomnia (79.85%), followed by frequent nighttime awakenings (68.65%). The most common sleep complaints that were aggravated during lockdown comparing to baseline were unrefreshing sleep (50.7%), frequent awakenings (19.4%), and sleep initiation difficulties (17.9%). Among the new-onset symptoms occurring during the quarantine, sleep initiation difficulties and early awakenings were the ost commonly reported. The majority of the patients (69.4%) noticed a reduction of the total sleep time during the lockdown. Conclusion: Conclusions: sleep disorders are common in PD patients and most of the sleep-related complaints were aggravated during the lockdown measures.