Abstract
Purpose
Compare agreements between polysomnography-based (PSG) diagnosis of isolated REM-sleep-behavior-disorder (iRBD) and Non-REM-Hypertonia (NRH), a novel biomarker independently associated with synucleinopathy-related neurodegenerative diseases.
Methods
Sixteen patients with histories of dream-enactment-behavior (DEB)(women=38%; age:64.6±13.0) underwent PSG with simultaneously-recorded Sleep Profiler (SP).
Two boarded sleep neurologists independently characterized iRBD. Physician1 combined abnormal qualitative REM-sleep-without-atonia (RSWA) by submental electromyography, with video-confirmation of probably DEB. Physician2 relied solely on qualitative RSWA. SP was auto-staged, technically reviewed, and reprocessed for automated abnormal NRH detection. Kappa scores measured physician and NRH agreements.
Results
In the 14 records with REM sleep, iRBD was characterized in: Physician1=64%, Physician2=79%, NRH=71% of the records. Across the three methods, unanimous iRBD agreement occurred in 57% of the records (positive=7, negative=1).
The between-physician agreement in iRBD classifications was fair (kappa=0.32). The agreement between NRH and Physician1 was moderate (kappa=0.52) versus slight with Physician2 (kappa=0.05).
NRH comparisons to consensus physician agreement yielded one false-positive and one false-negative iRBD finding. Physician2 classified: a) iRBD in two cases that were negative by Physician1 and NRH, and b) one negative case that Physician1 and NRH characterized as iRBD. Physician1 identified one negative case that was classified iRBD by Physician2 and NRH. Additionally, NRH was abnormal in one of the two records with no REM sleep.
Discussion
NRH may assist in iRBD risk assessment, given it agreed with at least one physician in 86% of the cases and the between-physician iRBD agreement was only fair. NRH also characterized iRBD-risk in patients with insufficient REM sleep for RSWA assessment.
Neuropsychological Characterization of Evolving Cognitive Decline in Idiopathic REM Sleep Behavior Disorder Is Important, But Not Easy
