Funding from the Big Lottery Fund to investigate sleep disorders
and Parkinson's
20 October 2008
The Parkinson's Disease Society (PDS) has been awarded funding
of over £400,000 by the Big Lottery Fund for research into the
troubling and disruptive problems many people with Parkinson's have
with sleep.
Lack of sleep can seriously affect quality of life for those
with Parkinson's and place additional stress on carers and loved
ones. So far, little research has been undertaken with newly
diagnosed people into finding out how common the problem is,
whether it occurs more commonly in certain types of Parkinson's,
what the long term consequences are for people with these problems,
and how best to treat them.
Dr Roger Barker and his team at the University of Cambridge will
carry out research using the following methods:
- questionnaires
- visiting newly diagnosed people with Parkinson's in their own
homes
- monitoring sleep behaviour during the night in a sleep lab
Dr Kieran Breen, Director of Research at the Parkinson's Disease
Society said:
"We are delighted to receive funding from the Big Lottery Fund for
this important research, because we know sleep problems in
Parkinson's are widespread but little understood. We all know
how exhausted we feel if we miss one good night's sleep, and for
many of the 120,000 people with Parkinson's in the UK, this is a
nightly occurrence, making it impossible to live a normal life, and
affecting loved ones and carers."
The project will be led by the PDS in partnership with:
- Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair
- Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology
- University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry
- Respiratory Support and Sleep Centre at Papworth Hospital
NHS Trust
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