Sleep disorders in Parkinson’s disease (PD) are frequently encountered and can have a significant negative impact on quality of life. In this chapter, we will specifically address ongoing and completed trials for treatment of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD), insomnia, restless legs syndrome (RLS) and periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD), circadian rhythm disorders (CRD), nocturia, sleep disordered breathing (SDB), and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). Multisite, randomized, controlled clinical trials that specifically address treatment of disorders of sleep and wakefulness in the PD population have been completed in some areas (EDS) but not others (RLS). There is a need to standardize trial design as well as tools for diagnosis and assessment across studies, among other shortcomings. More large-scale, randomized, controlled clinical trials are needed to better elucidate the role of disease-specific treatments in this patient population.
