Periodic limb movement variability in older DIMS patients across consecutive nights of home monitoring

Older difficulty initiating and/or maintaining sleep (DIMS) patients who met criteria for periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD) were monitored for three consecutive nights in their homes using ambulatory polysomnography (PSG). Correlational analyses of the group data suggested little night-to- night variability in either movement indices or movement-related arousal indices for this sample. However, within-subjects comparisons suggested considerable variability in these indices and other sleep measures across nights. Nevertheless, for most subjects, the variability noted for these indices appeared to have little effect on PLMD severity classification or clinical treatment decisions derived from blind examinations of PSGs. Further, the initial PSG study generally led to a representative severity classification and clinical decision. Additional research is needed to determine the generalizability of these results to younger subjects, patients with complaints of excessive somnolence and other methods of home PSG monitoring.