Skip to content

Periodic Leg Movements' Diagnosis in Spinal Cord Injury: Actigraphy as an Alternative for Polysomnography?

Periodic Leg Movement's Diagnosis in Spinal Cord Injury: Actigraphy as an Alternative for Polysomnography?

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04618978
Acronym
ACTI-MPJ-BM
Enrollment
160
Registered
2020-11-06
Start date
2021-02-25
Completion date
2025-01-17
Last updated
2025-02-11

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, Spinal Cord Injuries

Keywords

spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, periodic leg movements, spasticity, periodic limb movement disorder

Brief summary

Periodic Limb Movements during Sleep (PLMs) are episodes of repetitive, stereotypical, hallux or foot movements. They could induce sleep disturbance, fatigue, daytime sleepiness and impaired quality of life but also increased cardiovascular risk by rising heart rate and blood pressure at night. Gold standard for PLMs diagnosis is based on electromyographic recording of tibialis anterior muscle during full night polysomnography (PSG). PLMs prevalence is higher in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) possibly due to a loss of encephalic inhibition on a spinal motion generator. In these patients, PLMs can also be wrongly considered as spasms sometimes leading to the unjustified implantation of an intrathecal Lioresal pump. In the general population, drug treatments for PLMs, particularly dopamine agonists, limit the impact of these abnormal movements on sleep fragmentation, daytime alertness and quality of life. Underdiagnosed PLMs in SCI patients can lead to exacerbate cognitive, mood and painful disorders due to the close interaction between sleep disorders and neurocognitive, psychological and painful manifestations. PLMs appropriate diagnosis appeared mandatory in those patients but accessibility and delayed availability remain challenging. In addition, sleep laboratories are often unable to accommodate with SCI patients. In this context, actigraphy, an easy-to-use, cheaper and easily renewable diagnostic tool would be interesting. In the general population, sensitivity to diagnose PLMs was between 0.79 and 1 and specificity between 0.6 and 0.83. Due to lower limbs impairment, increased specificity is expected SCI patients (decrease voluntary activity). The new generation of actigraph (MotionWatchR) could have better characteristics thanks to the development of a specific software which integrate both lower limbs in the same analysis. As primary objective, this prospective monocentric study aims to evaluate the performances of lower limbs actigraphy for PLMs diagnosis versus gold standard.

Detailed description

As secondary objectives, the study aims to: * Estimate positive and negative predictive values; * Identify the diagnostic threshold of PLMs index with actigraphy; * Study concordance between actigraphy and polysomnography to detect lower limbs movements; * Evaluate reproducibility between 2 readers and with the new PLMs software; * Study actigraphy reproducibility for this indication over 3 consecutive nights in the same patients (ancillary study); * Compare diagnostic performance according to SCI completeness (AIS-A vs AIS-B, C, D) and underlying pathology (MS, SCI); * Compare installation and interpretation times between actigraphy and PSG. PLMs appropriate diagnosis appeared mandatory in SCI patients however the accessibility and the delay of availability remain challenging for severe SCI complications in care management. The study team hypothesize that actigraphy could be able to diagnose PLMs with sufficient reliability (AUC (area under the curve) around 80%) compared to the gold standard (polysomnography) in patients with spinal cord injuries. Intervention: During a scheduled night recording (polysomnography) 3 actigraphs will be added (1 on the wrist, and 1 on each foot). Equipment: MotionWatch8®, CamNtech® (marking CE Class 1 device; accord FDA (K132764)). Methods: All consecutive eligible patients followed in our tertiary care center (for whom a full night polysomnography is already scheduled) will be informed of the study and proposed to participate. After signing the informed consent form, all subjects will undergo a full-night examinations: polysomnography (already scheduled in usual care) and actigraphy (addition of 3 devices): * 1 classic actigraph on the wrist to detect light and identify inactivity periods compatible with sleep. * 2 new generation Actiwatch actigraphs (MotionWatch) placed on the feet. Polysomnography will incorporate tibialis anterior EMG recording and will be scored by one sleep specialist following American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) scoring criteria. Actigraphy analysis will be provided by: * An automated software specially developed for this indication (PLMsanalysis software, camNtechR). * A nurse reading unaware of both software's and PSG results. * A second reading will be provided by a second nurse, also unaware of the result of the polysomnography. Actigraphy results will not be communicated to patients or physicians and therefore will not affect patient management. At the end of the evaluation period, each patient will be offered, if needed, treatment and follow-up in the sleep unit as in usual care. A study of actigraphy reproducibility will be carried out in a sample of 33 subjects. This study will take place over three consecutive nights during an already scheduled hospitalization (no additional hospitalization night for patients). Statistical analysis: as described in Outcome Measures.

Interventions

PROCEDUREPSG and actigraphy recording

Gold standard: electromyographic recording of tibialis anterior muscle during full night polysomnography (PSG). The new generation actigraphs devices Actiwatch will be combined to PSG as a screening tool: MotionWatch will be placed on the dorsum of feet to record).

Sponsors

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Patient With Spinal Cord Injury from traumatic or medical aetiology (including patient with multiple sclerosis); * Motor testing stability for at least 6 months prior to inclusion; * Patients with complete or incomplete SCI (AIS-A, B, C, D and E); * Neurological level between C4 and L1; * Aged \>18 years; * Patients with already scheduled full night polysomnography (PSG); * Affiliated to social security system; * Absence of medical intercurrent event.

Exclusion criteria

Specific criteria: * History of lower limbs amputation ; * Cutaneous lesion compromising actigraphy positioning * Presence of spinal cord stimulation equipment, Brindley electrodes, history of spinal cord surgery. No-specific criteria: * Patient refusal; * Participation in another interventional study involving human participants * Unable to sign informed consent form; * Emergency condition; * Legal protection (i.e. incompetence to provide consent, guardianship, curator or incarceration); * No affiliation to a social security system.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysisThrough study completion, an average of 3 yearsArea under ROC curve of the actimeter (indices of periodic movement of legs, defined by the ratio between the number of periodic movement of low limbs during sleeping time and estimated sleeping duration in hour), compared with polysomnography to have diagnosis of periodic movement of legs during sleeping (period of sleeping defined by absence of light and movement of up limb of the more mobile with actimeter).

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Threshold of PLMs Indexup to 24 hoursThe periodic limb movement index (PLMI), which corresponds to the number of periodic limb movements per hour. The actigraphy will be used to determinate diagnostic threshold of PLMs Index.
Lower limb nocturnal movements evaluationup to 24 hoursNumber of lower limb nocturnal movements per recording hour
PLMs diagnosis based on the actigraphyThrough study completion, an average of 3 yearsPLMs diagnosis (yes / no) based on the actigraphy results
Predictive values estimationThrough study completion, an average of 3 yearsSensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and likelihood ratio of actigraphy compared to polysomnography to diagnose PLMs
Actigraphy diagnostic performanceThrough study completion, an average of 3 yearsActigraphy diagnostic performance according to: * the underlying pathology (MS or not) * and lesion completeness (AIS-A vs AIS-B,C, D) AIS: American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale; MS: multiple sclerosis.
Installation timeThrough study completion, an average of 3 yearsInstallation time between actigraphy and PSG
Interpretation timeThrough study completion, an average of 3 yearsTime of interpretation between actigraphy and PSG
Kappa coefficientThrough study completion, an average of 3 yearsKappa coefficient between PLMs diagnoses (yes / no) made by 2 different nurses and between 1 nurse and the automated analysis software

Countries

France

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026