Study objectives Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder with significant psychiatric/physical comorbidities in the general population. The aim of this study is to investigate whether socioeconomic and demographic factors are associated with gender differences in insomnia and subtypes in Korean population. Method The present study used data from the nationwide, cross-sectional study on sleep among all Koreans aged 19 to 69 years. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was used to classify insomnia symptoms and their subtypes (cutoff value: 9.5). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Goldberg Anxiety Scale (GAS) and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were used to measure sleep quality, anxiety and depression. Results A total of 2695 participants completed the survey. The overall prevalence of insomnia symptoms was 10.7%, including difficulty in initiating sleep (DIS) (6.8%), difficulty in maintaining sleep (DMS) (6.5%) and early morning awakening (EMA) (6.5%), and these symptoms were more prevalent in women than in men. Multivariate analysis showed that female gender, shorter sleep time and psychiatric complications were found to be independent predictors for insomnia symptoms and subtypes. After adjusting for covariates among these factors, female gender remained a significant risk factor for insomnia symptoms and their subtypes. As for men, low income was related to insomnia. Conclusion Approximately one-tenth of the sample from the Korean general population had insomnia symptoms. The prevalence of insomnia symptom and the subtypes were more prevalent in women than men. Gender is an independent factor for insomnia symptoms.

To study the influence of discriminative cutaneous sensory dysfunction on impaired finger dexterity in Parkinson's disease (PD), we evaluated 48 right-handed PD patients during a practically defined off-medication period and 24 healthy age-matched controls. With visual deprivation, a finger tapping task (FTT) was performed to assess the speed of simple repetitive finger movements and a coin rotation task (CRT) was used to assess finger dexterity. The tasks were performed with the right hand. We measured the somesthetic temporal discrimination threshold (sTDT) in the right index finger. The mean ± SD FTT score of the patient group was lower than that of the control group (24.0 ± 8.0 vs. 29.8 ± 7.8; P < 0.01). The patient group performed worse on the CRT than the control group (8.5 ± 3.5 vs. 12.6 ± 1.7; P < 0.001). The mean sTDT value of the patient group was longer than that of the control group (124.0 ± 44.8 vs. 78.1 ± 26.2 ms; P < 0.001). The CRT scores correlated with the sTDT values (Pearson's correlation coefficient = -0.43; P < 0.01), but not with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) finger bradykinesia scores or FTT scores. Multiple regression analysis showed that the sTDT values (parameter estimate = -0.03, SE = 0.01; P < 0.01), but not patient age, UPDRS finger bradykinesia score, or FTT score, affected the CRT score. Slowness of simple repetitive finger movements did not have a strong impact on the impaired manual dexterity of PD. Discriminative sensory dysfunction and consequent abnormal sensorimotor integration seem to be involved in the impaired finger dexterity of PD.

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BackgroundAntiepileptic drug (AED) induced dyskinesia is an unusual manifestation in the medical field. In the previous case reports describing first generation-AED related involuntary movements, the authors suggested that a plausible cause is pharmacokinetic interactions between two or more AEDs. To date, development of dyskinesia after levetiracetam (LEV) has not been reported.Case presentationA 28-year-old woman with a history of brain metastasis from spinal cord glioblastoma presented with several generalized tonic-clonic seizures without restored consciousness. LEV was administered intravenously. Thereafter no more clinical or electroencephalographic seizures were noted on video-EEG monitoring, while chorea movement was observed in her face and bilateral upper limbs.Discussion and conclusionsTo our knowledge, there is no case report of dyskinesia after administration of LEV. Considering the temporal relationship and absence of ictal video-EEG findings, we suggest that development of choreoathetosis was closely associated with the undesirable effects of LEV. We propose that dopaminergic system dysregulation and genetic susceptibility might underlie this unusual phenomenon after LEV treatment.