Acute REM sleep behaviour disorder associated with alcohol withdrawal: A case report and literature review

Research on sleep disorders in patients with mental illness: A review of Indian studies

Background

Many psychiatric disorders present with symptoms involving disordered sleep. The overlay of sleep and psychiatric disorders, though ubiquitous, remains less well understood. The evolution of diagnostic manuals for sleep and psychiatric disorders has also complicated our understanding of this intersection.

Aim

Hence, this current review was conducted to explore the progress of Indian research on sleep disorders in patients with mental illness.

Methods

In order to cover the wide spectrum of our scope of review, it was decided to conduct a narrative review. The search was conducted in PubMed and Google Scholar, and the recruited studies were all research work done in India on sleep disorders in patients with mental illness.

Results

The review could identify substantial volume of research published from India on sleep disorders in patients with mental illness. The prominent sleep disorders that were addressed included restless legs syndrome, insomnia, hypersomnia, parasomnia, and sleep-related breathing disorders. The studies were mostly clinic-based and observational in nature.

Conclusion

To conclude, the relationship of psychiatric disorders and sleep disorders has been in the forefront of research in the India. There is a high prevalence of sleep disorders in Indian patients with psychiatric ailments. However, it was found that the research attempts have been largely clustered toward certain selected disorders and there is a need for conducting more studies using more rigorous designs.

Secondary RBD: Not just neurodegeneration

Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder is a parasomnia characterized by excessive muscle activity during rapid eye movement sleep (rapid eye movement sleep without atonia), along with dream enactment behavior. Isolated rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder tends to occur in older males and is of concern due to the known link to Parkinson's disease and other synucleinopathies. When rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder occurs in association with other neurological or general medical conditions, or resulting from the use of various substances, it is called secondary rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder; the most common cause is neurodegenerative illness, specifically the synucleinopathies. Here, the focus will be on the subset of secondary rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder in which there is no neurodegenerative disease.