Sex differences in sleep disorders of Parkinson’s disease patients associated with a genetic risk variant

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting 10 million people worldwide. PD results in both motor and non-motor symptom manifestations. Notably, sleep disorders are one of the most common non-motor symptoms of PD and exhibit sex differences in frequency and severity. Although studies have identified variations in sleep disorder manifestation and genetic variants between male and female PD patients, few have examined the connection between PD sleep disorders and genetic risk factors with consideration of biological sex. To address the hypothesis that sex-specific sleep dysfunction in PD patients is associated with genetic risk variants, this study compares sleep symptom frequency and PD-associated genetic variants between males and females. The findings of this study reveal that the differential prevalence of a leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) mutation (G2019S) between male and female PD patients may underlie sex differences in PD sleep disorders, including rapid eye movement (REM) behavior disorder (RBD) and insomnia. This suggests the potential of sex-specific genetic treatments in effectively managing the sleep symptoms of PD patients.