Sleep Disturbances and Disorders in Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis

We are pleased to see the trend of clinicians/researchers zeroing in and characterizing some of the more typical features seen in patients diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, such as seizures, movement disorders and the psychiatric symptoms. Sleep disorders can now be added to this list. In the past year we have seen several papers that have characterized the quality and nature of sleep in anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis and related forms of autoimmune encephalitis.

The most recent addition to this body of literature is Sleep Disorders in anti-NMDAR encephalitis by Dr. Helena Arino, et. al. in which the pattern of insomnia at onset and hypersomnolence during recovery is reviewed. The abstract can be read at the following link: https://n.neurology.org/content/early/2020/06/23/WNL.0000000000009987

Last year, Dr. D.K. Jain, a winner of last year’s anti-NMDA Foundation Prize, at the annual Congress of the Canadian Federation of Neurological Sciences presented his findings on the Effects of REM Sleep in anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis with extreme delta brush pattern. His study findings can be accessed via the following link:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-neurological-sciences/article/effects-of-rapid-eye-movement-sleep-in-antinmdar-encephalitis-with-extreme-delta-brush-pattern/32CACD16360B9FD8B7ADD35C1FD6870C

Also last year, Dr. Gregory Day, the Foundation’s Clinical Director published Sleep disturbances are common in patients with autoimmune encephalitis. The full-text article can be read at the following link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6421090/
This study was followed up with Sleep Disturbances in Patients with Autoimmune Encephalitis, “… to review sleep complaints reported in patients with autoimmune encephalitis, explore the relationship between sleep disturbances and subtypes of autoimmune encephalitis, and leverage knowledge concerning antibody-antigen specificity to inform the receptors, structures, and disseminated neural networks that contribute to sleep function in health and disease.”
The full-text article can be read at the following link courtesy of the authors: https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s11910-020-01048-0?sharing_token=JFzoWiPlT_a6AUqM2gGGv_e4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY7sCtbVJZTUDUmBnPv0R5DjeFLjMrBkBh96MhiiBroso2T4pf3jYcxG92dU7tM5BdyaynyIYz_ee2eY1_JPRphhtQlwuqeklEDeSUfhMySXl9vHgOqDYXioi26Far67UwQ%3D

The Foundation is grateful to all the authors of these studies that have shone a light on just one of the many challenging aspects of anti-NMDAR encephalitis.