Parkin gene mutations cause a juvenile parkinsonism. Patients with these mutations may commonly exhibit REM sleep behaviour disorders, but other sleep problems (insomnia, sleepiness, restless legs syndrome) have not been studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sleep-wake phenotype in patients with two parkin mutations, compared with patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (iPD). Sleep interview and overnight video-polysomnography, followed by multiple sleep latency tests, were assessed in 11 consecutive patients with two parkin mutations (aged 35-60 years, from seven families) and 11 sex-matched patients with iPD (aged 51-65 years). Sleep complaints in the parkin group included insomnia (73% patients versus 45% in the iPD group), restless legs syndrome (45%, versus none in the iPD group, P = 0.04), and daytime sleepiness (45%, versus 54% in the iPD group). Of the parkin patients, 45% had REM sleep without atonia, but only 9% had a definite REM sleep behavior disorder. All sleep measures were similar in the parkin and iPD groups. Two parkin siblings had a central hypersomnia, characterized by mean daytime sleep latencies of 3 min, no sleep onset REM periods, and normal nighttime sleep. Although the patients with two parkin mutations were young, their sleep phenotype paralleled the clinical and polygraphic sleep recording abnormalities reported in iPD, except that restless legs syndrome was more prevalent and secondary narcolepsy was absent.