Authors:
Parisa Sattar
1
;
2
;
3
;
Giulia Baldazzi
3
;
Nicla Mandas
3
;
4
;
Elisa Casaglia
2
;
Michela Figorilli
2
;
Monica Puligheddu
2
and
Danilo Pani
3
Affiliations:
1
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
;
2
Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, Sleep Disorder Research Center, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
;
3
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
;
4
The Hardon Academy, Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS Pavia, Italy
Keyword(s):
Heart Rate Variability, Parkinson Disease, REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, RBD.
Abstract:
Approximately 40% to 70% of patients affected by Parkinson’s disease (PD) suffer from autonomic dysfunction that could be related to REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). In this work, polysomnographic recordings were analyzed to study heart rate variability (HRV) during different sleep stages in a cohort of 20 participants, ten with Parkinson Disease with RBD (RBDpd) and ten unaffected (CG). HRV analysis was performed by considering the first 5 min epoch from each stage (i.e., wake, N2, N3, and REM), including time and frequency domain indexes, and entropy measures. Statistical analysis was carried out to assess any possible significant difference between CG and RBDpd groups, but also between the wake and REM stages in each group. Significant differences of the combined effect of RBD and PD emerged in both time and frequency domains, but also when considering nonlinear parameters during REM and awake phases. Accordingly, a comparison of wake and REM phase showed significant differences
in all HRV parameters for CG that was absent in the RBDpd group. Our findings reveal the potentiality of HRV as a digital biomarker for RBDpd, by indicating distinct dysfunction of both parasympathetic and sympathetic activities in the RBDpd group, partially in line with previous studies.
(More)