Abnormal REM Sleep Atonia Control in Patients With Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (1607)

Objective: We aimed to comparatively analyze REM sleep without atonia levels between patients with chronic Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with and without REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD), idiopathic RBD (iRBD), and controls. Background: PTSD is characterized by persistent mental and emotional stress following physically or psychologically traumatic events. Vivid recall of events, including traumatic nightmares, and prominent sleep disturbances are frequent in PTSD. Previous studies suggest military combat associated PTSD and psychiatric illness may share clinical features, such as altered REM sleep without atonia (RSWA), with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD). Design/Methods: We selected 18 PTSD, 18 PTSD+RBD, 15 iRBD, and 51 healthy control patients matched for age and sex from the Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine’s polysomnography database for RSWA quantification. RSWA amounts in the submentalis (SM) and anterior tibialis (AT) were quantitatively analyzed in accordance with previously published methods. Non-parametric analyses were performed to compare RSWA, patient demographics, and PSG data. Results: Patients with PTSD had significantly higher RSWA than controls in all RSWA density measures (p Conclusions: PTSD patients have significantly higher RSWA than controls, with PTSD+RBD patients having higher RSWA levels than PTSD patients. These data provide the first evidence for abnormal RSWA control in patients with chronic PTSD. This provides evidence for a unique biology in PTSD that could imply a future risk for neurodegenerative disease in PTSD similar to RBD patients. Further prospective studies will need to be performed on patients with PTSD to further understand this risk. Disclosure: Dr. Feemster has nothing to disclose. Dr. Steele has nothing to disclose. Dr. Palermo has nothing to disclose. Dr. Tao has nothing to disclose. Dr. Bauer has nothing to disclose. Dr. Rivera has nothing to disclose. Dr. Walters-Smith has nothing to disclose. Dr. Gossard has nothing to disclose. Dr. Teigen has nothing to disclose. Dr. Timm has nothing to disclose. Dr. McCarter has nothing to disclose. Dr. St. Louis has nothing to disclose.