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Associations Between Sleep and Non-Motor Symptoms in RBD-Screened Suspected Prodromal Parkinson's Disease with Hyposmia or Orthostatic Hypotension

Paulėkas E, Mučaitė R, Pajėdienė E, Tamošiūnas A, Lesauskaitė V, Petrikonis K

Journal of clinical medicine, 2026

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Parkinson's disease (PD) includes a prodromal phase characterized by non-motor symptoms (NMS). We investigated whether sleep disturbances co-aggregate with other NMS in suspected prodromal PD (p-PD) to refine early phenotyping and risk stratification. Materials and Methods: A population-based survey was conducted in Kaunas, Lithuania. Participants from the Kaunas City preventive health screening cohort (2024-2025) were screened using the Innsbruck REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder Inventory (RBD-I). Sixty-two individuals were included: 31 with suspected p-PD and 31 controls. Demographic characteristics, clinical features, sleep symptoms, olfactory function, autonomic symptoms, cognition, and mood were assessed. Between-group comparisons and within-group correlation analyses were performed. Results: Groups did not differ in age, sex, education, lifestyle exposures, or family history (all p > 0.05). Compared with controls, individuals with suspected p-PD had a higher prevalence of insomnia (71.0% vs. 12.9%, p p = 0.005), cognitive impairment (54.8% vs. 16.1%, p = 0.001), and constipation (32.3% vs. 0%, p = 0.002). As expected from the predefined enrichment strategy, hyposmia and orthostatic hypotension (OH) were observed only among suspected p-PD participants. Within the suspected p-PD group, the Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire (NMSQ) scores correlated with depressive/anxiety symptoms (r = 0.578, p = 0.001). Olfactory dysfunction correlated with…

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