Abstract

Background: This study aims to evaluate sleep quality, insomnia severity, and daytime sleepiness in patients with hemifacial spasm (HFS) and to investigate their associations with clinical characteristics and depressive symptoms.

Materials and Methods: This multicenter, prospective, cross-sectional study included 34 patients with HFS evaluated between September 2024 and December 2024. All participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and the Jankovic Hemifacial Spasm Rating Scale. Associations between clinical variables and sleep-related measures were assessed using Spearman correlation analysis.

Results: A total of 34 patients (16 males, 18 females; median age: 49.5 years; range, 26 to 64 years) with HFS were clinically evaluated. Poor sleep quality was identified in 47.1% of the patients. Based on the ISI, 26.5% had subthreshold insomnia and 5.9% had moderate insomnia, whereas none exhibited excessive daytime sleepiness according to the ESS. Patients with poor sleep quality were older (p = 0.013), had lower educational levels (p = 0.003), and had higher ISI (p < 0.001) and ESS (p < 0.001) scores than those with good sleep quality. PSQI scores were positively correlated with age (r = 0.429), HFS severity (r = 0.360), ISI (r = 0.892), and ESS (r = 0.684) and negatively correlated with educational level (all p < 0.05). The BDI-II scores were positively correlated with ISI (r = 0.425, p = 0.012), whereas the association with PSQI approached statistical significance (p = 0.058).

Conclusion: Sleep disturbances are common in patients with HFS and are associated with older age and lower educational level. Although disease severity showed a significant correlation with sleep quality, depressive symptoms were more closely associated with insomnia severity. Routine assessment of sleep and mood symptoms may facilitate a more comprehensive clinical evaluation of patients with HFS.

Cite this article as: Öner ÖG, Baran G. Sleep disturbances and their clinical correlates in patients with hemifacial spasm. Parkinson Hast Harek Boz Derg 2026;29(2):46-52. doi: 10.5606/phhb.dergisi.2026.79.

Ö.G.Ö., G.B.: Concept, data collection and/or processing, literature search, critical review, materials; Ö.G.Ö.: Design, supervision, analysis and/or interpretation, writing the manuscript, references and funding.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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