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Systemic Sclerosis Associated with Sleep Disturbances

Patients with systemic sclerosis appear to experience significant disruptions in their sleep.

Two common complications of systemic sclerosis, esophageal dyskinesia and dyspnea, are related to indices of sleep disruption, according to investigators. Also, restless legs syndrome appears to be more prevalent in patients with systemic sclerosis.

These results are reported by investigators from the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, and the Department of Internal Medicine and Neurology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, in São Paulo, Brazil.

The investigators performed all-night polysomnograms and clinical interviews for 27 consecutive systemic sclerosis patients. The interviews were blinded to sleep status. Patient data were compared with published normative values.

Systemic sclerosis patients had reduced sleep efficiency and rapid eye movement sleep, as well as increased arousal index and slow wave sleep compared with published values. Six of the 27 patients had restless leg syndrome and these patients had a higher arousal index compared with the remaining 21 patients.

Restless leg syndrome, esophageal dyskinesia and dyspnea were all significantly associated with disturbed sleep. The prevalence of sleep apnea in systemic sclerosis patients did not exceed normal values.
Sleep Med 2002; 3(4): 341-345. "Sleep disruption in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) patients: clinical and polysomnographic findings"

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