Citation - Dr. Roger Broughton

Dr. J. David grimes Research career Achievement Award.

Dr. Broughton has always been captivated by the dissociations between wakefulness and sleep. Imagine talking to a patient who is fast asleep but responds as if awake, and after being awakened, has not recollections of the conversation. Or imagine people who can be fully aware of their surroundings while dreaming, or a homicide committed during a sleepwalking episode. Indeed, Dr. Broughton’s investigations of a homicidal sleepwalker provided critical insights into what became a landmark case before the Supreme Court of Canada.

Dr. Broughton’s research into sleep and its disorders over more than four decades, and his numerous publications have been internationally acclaimed. In addition to being a past president of the International Sleep Research Society and an honorary member of scientific societies in five countries, he is the founding president of the Canadian Sleep Society. In 2002, he received the prestigious William C. Dement Academic Achievement Award of the American Academy for Sleep Medicine.

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Dr. Broughton received his medical degree from Queen’s University, took specialty training in Saskatoon and Marseille, and began his research career at the Montreal Neurological Institute leading to a PhD degree from McGill University.

In Ottawa, Dr. Broughton has been affiliated with the University of Ottawa Division of Neurology since 1968 and founded the first Sleep Medicine Centre in Canada. His prestigious work has attracted several visiting professors to his laboratory, and he has supervised a large number of doctoral and master’s students, as well as research fellows from Canada and abroad.

In addition to its research thrust, the Sleep Medicine Centre serves our community by evaluating and treating more than 2,000 patients every year with daytime sleepiness due to conditions such as breathing disturbances during sleep, and narcolepsy-a syndrome characterized by attacks of involuntary daytime sleep and episodes of muscle weakness. Other frequently seen disturbances include various forms of insomnia, nightmares, sleep terrors, enuresis, and disorders due to dysfunction of the body’s internal clock.

Where will Dr. Broughton’s research take him next? Nothing short of the top of the world. He was recently appointed scientific director of the Canada Everest 2005 Research Expedition. This project will explore the impact of deteriorating sleep at increasing altitudes on performance and higher mental functions.

Bedwetting is not their fault

Parasomnias, which include the list in the chart below, according to Dr. Broughton, share common characteristics. He states that since these events are not initiated from REM sleep, they are not psychologically based. They are a result of an abnormality in the transition from deep to highly activated sleep, that is, from non-REM to REM sleep.

Genetic Factors

It is well known that there is a greater incidence of PNE (Primary Nocturnal Enuresis) in children whose parents were enuretic compared to those families with no parental history. If both parents were bed-wetters, their children have a 77% chance of having NE; and if only one parent had been enuretic, the incidence drops to 43% (Bakwin, 1993; Jarvelin, Vikevainen-Tervonen, Moilanen, & Huttenen, 1988). Recent research describes a molecular genetic heterogeneity to primary nocturnal enuresis. This genetic link is consistent with the chromosomes 13q and 12q (Arnell et al., 1997; Eiberg, 1995). Identification and gene characterization for PNE could lead to a better understanding of the complexity of urination and NE and subsequent management and treatment (Eiberg, Berendt, & Mohr, 1995).

NE is usually transmitted in an autosomal dominant fashion. Chromosome 22 was identified as the site of NE loci in a Danish family in 1995. Subsequent reports link NE in other families to chromosomes 8, 12, and 16.

Source: Wm M. Robson MD

Pedigree showing reported occurrence of sleepwalking, bed-wetting, sleep talking, night terrors, and teeth grinding among relative of Mr. A. developed by Rosalind Cartwright, PHD., working on case with Dr. Roger Broughton.