The contribution of illness perceptions to fatigue and sleep problems in youngsters with epilepsy

The present study aims to explore the extent to which gender, epilepsy severity and illness perceptions predict fatigue and sleep problems in youngsters with epilepsy.

Structured interviews were conducted in 100 young patients (Mage = 13,9, SD = 2.21; 41% girls) and data were analyzed by means of multiple hierarchical regression analyses.

Most patients (91%) were well controlled by anti-epileptics; 3% had infrequent seizures and 6% were pharmacoresistant. At a multivariate level it appeared that youngsters with epilepsy who believe that they have less personal control over their illness and who feel that the illness has a high emotional impact on their lives reported higher levels of fatigue. In addition, more sleep problems were reported by youngsters who think they have less personal control over the disease, who believe that treatment controls epilepsy and report that the disease has a high emotional impact on their lives.

Given the importance of illness perceptions, it is suggested that they are targets for future interventions that aim to reduce fatigue and sleep problems in youngsters with epilepsy.