Periodic limb movement in sleep in children with Williams syndrome.
Publication/Presentation Date
11-1-1998
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Williams syndrome (WS) is associated with neurobehavioral abnormalities that include irritability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Parents often report children having difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep because of restlessness and arousals. Therefore we evaluated a group of children with WS for the presence of a movement arousal sleep disorder.
METHODS: Twenty-eight families of children with WS participated in a telephone survey aimed to screen for a movement arousal disorder. Of the 16 children identified as having such a disorder, 7 (mean age, 3.9 +/- 2.2 years) underwent polysomnography. Their studies were compared with those of 10 matched control subjects (mean age, 5.3 +/- 2.0 years).
RESULTS: The 7 subjects with WS who were screened by the survey had sleep latency, total sleep time, arousals, and awakenings that were similar to those of control subjects. However, they presented with a disorder of periodic limb movement in sleep (PLMS). The PLMS index in the subjects with WS was 14.9 +/- 6.2 versus 2.8 +/- 1.9 in control subjects (P < .0001). In addition, arousal and awakening in subjects with WS were strongly associated with PLMS. Moreover, children with WS spend more time awake during sleep periods than control subjects (10.0% +/- 7.0% vs 4.4% +/- 4.7%; P < .05). Five children were treated with clonazepam, and in 4 a significant clinical response was noted.
CONCLUSION: We report an association between WS and PLMS. Clonazepam may reduce the clinical symptoms of PLMS in some of these children.
Volume
133
Issue
5
First Page
670
Last Page
674
ISSN
0022-3476
Published In/Presented At
Arens, R., Wright, B., Elliott, J., Zhao, H., Wang, P. P., Brown, L. W., Namey, T., & Kaplan, P. (1998). Periodic limb movement in sleep in children with Williams syndrome. The Journal of pediatrics, 133(5), 670–674. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-3476(98)70110-6
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
PubMedID
9821427
Department(s)
Department of Medicine
Document Type
Article