Sleep Medicine Clinics · Dec 26, 2025

Gender and Psychiatric Disparities in Rapid-Eye-Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder

By Bodkin CL, Schenck CH

Under-recognized groups with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) include females/women and patients with psychiatric disorders, with different clinical manifestations. RBD has a reported older male predominance. However, this sex and age difference may partly relate to under-diagnosis of RBD in women due to various factors, such as less violent and decreased amount of sleep behaviors, hormonal differences, and relative lack of bed partners. Since idiopathic/isolated RBD is known to be an early manifestation of neurodegeneration in middle-aged and older adults, it is necessary to fully recognize RBD in both sexes.

doi.org/10.1016/j.jsmc.2025.10.015PubMed 41720541Populations