Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder During Childhood

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a type of parasomnia that arises out of REM sleep and is characterized by aggressive or violent motor dream enactment in conjunction with preservation of tonic electromyographic activity (ie, REM sleep without atonia). RBD occurs at all ages and in both sexes, although it remains relatively infrequent during childhood. The literature pertaining to RBD in childhood is scant, and composed only of single case reports or small case series. RBD etiologies include Parkinson disease, multisystem atrophy, and dementia with Lewy body disease. This article presents an updated review of childhood RBD.