'Lewy Body Dementia' is the second most common form of dementia in the elderly, which is an accumulation of Lewy body type of a particular protein in the brain. According to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Lewy body is often seen in people with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic recently conducted a study to examine the medical records of 75 patients diagnosed with dementia and possibly with Lewy Body. The result is known that someone 5 times more likely to develop dementia Lewy body if he had REM sleep behavior disorder (rapid eye movement).
REM sleep is a normal stage of sleep during a dream, where the rate of respiration and brain activity increases, muscles become more relaxed, and is characterized by rapid eye movements. Usually, people will not move during REM sleep, but people with REM sleep behavior disorder can act out her dream aloud or perform certain movements.
The relationship between REM sleep behavior disorder with Lewy body dementia is stronger in men than in women, according to study results presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in San Diego.
Researchers noted that in men, REM sleep behavior disorder may appear three or more decades before he was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia.
"It's not everyone who has a REM sleep disorder develop Lewy body dementia, but as many as 75 to 80 percent of men with Lewy body dementia admitted to REM sleep behavior disorder. Thus, REM sleep disorder is a very strong marker for the disease," said Melissa Murray, neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic Florida who led the study.
Murray suggested that REM sleep disorder patients need to be screened for dementia in order to help doctors better diagnose dementia with Lewy body or Alzheimer's disease. Sometimes it can be very difficult to distinguish between the two dementia, particularly in the early stages.
"But we also have found that only 2 to 3 percent of patients with Alzheimer's disease had a history of sleep disorders," said Murray, as reported by Everyday Health.
There is no cure for Lewy body dementia, but there are drugs that can treat some of the symptoms. Meanwhile, this study only found an association between REM sleep behavior disorder with dementia, and it does not prove causality.
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