Cognitive Benefits of Treating Sleep Apnea in Parkinson's Disease

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Parkinson's Disease
Sleep Disordered Breathing

Interventions: Device: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)
Device: Placebo CPAP

Registration Number: NCT00492115

Lead Sponsor: University of California, San Diego

Brief Summary: Patients with sleep disordered breathing (SDB), also called sleep apnea, experience nighttime disrupted sleep and, because they stop breathing for short periods during the night, do not get sufficient oxygen to their brains. This can frequently result in daytime impairments including difficulties with memory. The state-of-the-art treatment for SDB is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). Many non-demented SDB patients who are successfully treated with CPAP show improvement in memory and other cognitive functions. Data have shown that patients with Parkinson's disease have a high rate of SDB. Patients with Parkinson's disease also often have problems with memory. This study will test the effects of treating SDB among patients with Parkinson's disease and SDB. Specifically, the study will test the effect of CPAP treatment on SDB and sleep; the effect of CPAP treatment on daytime sleepiness, cognition, overall quality of life and mood; the effect of CPAP treatment on the frequency of symptoms of REM behavior disorder and restless legs syndrome; the effect of continued CPAP use (beyond the six weeks of the study) on SDB, sleep, cognition, mood and quality of life; whether the study-partner feels that CPAP improves the patient's sleep, mood and overall functioning; whether study-partners feel that their own sleep, mood and overall functioning improve as the patient's sleep improves both during the 6-week protocol and at follow-up for those opting to continue using CPAP.

Detailed Description: This study will examine the effect of three weeks vs. six weeks of CPAP treatment on cognitive functioning and sleep in patients with Parkinson's disease and sleep apnea. It is designed as a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial of CPAP. As a comparison group, half the patients will first be randomly assigned to three weeks of shamCPAP, followed by three weeks of therapeutic CPAP treatment. Sleep, functional outcome and mood questionnaires and a repeatable neuropsychological test battery, chosen to be sensitive to the type of changes we expect to find in memory and cognitive function, will be administered before the start of treatment, after three weeks, and after six weeks of treatment.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 98

Inclusion Criteria

Clinical diagnosis of dementia due to Parkinson's disease (according to the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (code 294.1)
MMSE score between 18 and 26, inclusive; cognitive symptoms must occur at least one year after the diagnosis of PDD
Apnea hypopnea index >10 (i.e., 10 apneas plus hypopneas per hour of sleep)
Over the age of 50 years
Stable health
Fluent English speaking
Patients will be allowed to continue dopaminergic medications, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, psychotropic medications, memory enhancers, health food supplements, etc. as long as they have been stable on the same dose for at least two months prior to participation and agree to continue on this dose for the duration of the 6-week study.

Exclusion Criteria

Current treatment for sleep apnea (to avoid discontinuing already established treatment for sleep apnea and any carry over confounding effect of treatment on cognition).
Central sleep apnea
Use of medications known to influence sleep (i.e. sedative hypnotics, narcotics) if the dose cannot remain stable for the duration of the study.
Bronchospastic and symptomatic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as indicated by regular use of bronchodilators, steroids, history of carbon dioxide retention, waking hypoxemia (PaO2 <60 mmHg or SpO2 <92 % by pulse oximetry), or use of supplemental oxygen.
Symptomatic coronary or cerebral vascular disease (history of myocardial infarction, angina, stroke, or transient ischemic attacks), history of life-threatening arrhythmias, cardiomyopathy, or current alcohol or drug abuse
Current diagnosis of active seizure disorder; presence of any neurodegenerative disorder other than PDD or other causes of dementia
Any behavioral or physical problem that would preclude completion of the primary evaluation or treatment with CPAP.

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
therapeutic CPAP Treatment (6 weeks)"	Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)	Intervention - The active comparator is an intervention of nightly therapeutic CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) treatment for 6 weeks. Patients will use CPAP every night for the full duration of the study, i.e., 6 weeks
Sham CPAP/therapetuic CPAP (6 weeks)"	Placebo CPAP	The placebo comparator is an intervention of placebo CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) nightly for 3 weeks followed by therapeutic CPAP treatment nightly for 3 weeks. Patients will use a sham CPAP (no real pressure) for 3 weeks and then will be switched to real CPAP for 3 weeks.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Tests to Determine the Apnea-hypopnea Index (Number of Apneas and Hypopneas Per Hour of Sleep)	six weeks	Overnight sleep studies were done to determine the effect of treatment on the apnea-hypopnea index (number of apneas and hypopneas per hour of sleep)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Sleep Stages; %Time Spent at SaO2<90%;	6 weeks	Overnight sleep studies were done to examine the effect of CPAP treatment on sleep stages and on %time spent at Sa)2\<90%.