Transdermal Rotigotine Improves Sleep Fragmentation in Parkinson's Disease: Results of the Multicenter, Prospective SLEEP-FRAM Study

Sleep disturbances occur frequently in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of rotigotine on sleep fluctuations in a sample of PD patients with self-reported complaints of nocturnal awakenings. This prospective, open-label, observational, and multicenter study enrolled consecutive outpatients with PD and administered rotigotine (mean dose 8.9 mg/day) for 3 months. The primary endpoint was the change from baseline in sleep fragmentation, assessed using the sleep maintenance subscale score of the Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale (PDSS). The newly designed Parkinson's Disease Sleep Fragmentation Questionnaire (PD-SFQ) was used to measure other sleep parameters. A total of 62 patients were enrolled (mean age 70.2 years; 66% male). At 3 months, rotigotine significantly improved sleep fragmentation from baseline on the PDSS-2 sleep maintenance subscale (from 3.4 ± 0.9 to 1.9 ± 1.4; P < 0.0001). Rotigotine also significantly improved nocturnal motor symptoms (P < 0.0001), restless legs-like symptoms (P < 0.005), and nocturia (P = 0.004). Rotigotine significantly improved self-reported complaints of sleep fragmentation in PD patients and could be a useful treatment to improve this specific sleep problem in PD. However, these results are based on a small and clinically heterogeneous sample so they must be taken cautiously.