Objectives To assess sleep quality in patients with Huntington's disease (HD) compared to healthy controls.

Methods Information about sleep disorders was collected using a range of sleep questionnaires in 26 Huntington's disease patients (mean age 50 years; female 65%) and 39 healthy controls, matched for age and sex. This is an interim analysis of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A total score ≥6 on the PSQI was defined as cut off for poor sleep quality in general. An interim analysis was also done for the PSQI subcategories: subjective quality of sleep, sleep onset latency, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, presence of sleep disturbances, use of hypnotic-sedative medication and presence of daytime sleepiness.

Results 27 % of patients with Huntington's disease, compared to 8% of healthy controls complained of poor sleep quality based on a PSQI total score ≥6 (p<0.05). There were significant differences between Huntington's disease patients and healthy controls for PSQI total score (p<0,05), use of hypnotic-sedative medication (p<0.05) and sleep onset latency (p<0.01).

Conclusion This interim analysis of an ongoing study showed that poor sleep quality according to the PSQI is more common in patients with Huntington's disease than in healthy controls. Sleep quality and determinants of poor sleep quality should move more strongly into the focus of symptomatic treatment efforts in HD.