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Sleep respiratory parameters in children with idiopathic epilepsy: A cross-sectional study

Maria Gogou¹, Katerina Haidopoulou², Maria Eboriadou²

¹2nd Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University General Hospital AHEPA, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Epilepsy Research

|July 12, 2016

Insights

Children with epilepsy have a higher risk of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome compared to healthy children. Further research is needed to understand the link between sleep apnea and seizure control.

Area of Science:

Pediatric Neurology
Sleep Medicine
Respiratory Physiology

Background:

Idiopathic epilepsy in children is common.
Sleep disturbances are frequently reported in epileptic children.
Respiratory sleep parameters in pediatric epilepsy are not well-characterized.

Purpose of the Study:

To compare respiratory sleep parameters between children with idiopathic epilepsy and healthy controls.
To investigate the prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) in pediatric epilepsy.
To explore the relationship between sleep apnea severity and seizure control.

Main Methods:

Cross-sectional study design.
Inclusion of 40 children with idiopathic epilepsy and 27 healthy children.
Overnight polysomnography (PSG) to assess sleep respiratory parameters.

Main Results:

Significantly higher prevalence of OSAS in children with epilepsy (35% vs 7.4%, p<0.01).
Elevated obstructive apnea-hypopnea index (OAHI) in epilepsy group (2.46±1.22 vs 1.21±0.83, p=0.027).
Longest apnea duration was higher in children with poor seizure control.

Conclusions:

Children with epilepsy exhibit increased sleep breathing instability, particularly obstructive events.
A predisposition to obstructive respiratory events is noted in pediatric epilepsy.
Further investigation into the sleep apnea-seizure control relationship is warranted.

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Abstract

Background:

The aim of this study is to explore and compare through polysomnography respiratory sleep parameters between children with idiopathic epilepsy and healthy children.

Methods:

Our cross-sectional study included 40 children with idiopathic epilepsy and 27 healthy children, who underwent overnight polysomnography. Data about sleep respiratory parameters were obtained and statistically analyzed. The level of statistical significance was set at 0.05.

Results:

The prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome was significantly higher in the epilepsy group (35% vs 7.4%, p<0.01). Moreover, the odds ratio of an obstructive apnea index ≥1 in the epilepsy group was 10.6 (95% Confidence Intervals: 3.08-37.08) in comparison to the control group. The mean value of the obstructive apnea-hypopnea index was significantly higher in children with epilepsy compared to healthy children (2.46±1.22 vs 1.21±0.83, p=0.027). The mean values of central apnea index and desaturation index were comparable between these two groups. Longest apnea duration was significantly higher in the group of poor seizure control. All other sleep respiratory variables did not differ significantly between children with poor and good seizure control and between children with generalized and focal epilepsy.

Conclusions:

Children with epilepsy seem to present more prominent sleep breathing instability in comparison to healthy children, which mainly includes a predisposition to obstructive respiratory events. More studies are needed to investigate the relationship between sleep apneas and seizure control.

Keywords:

Children Epilepsy Polysomnography Seizure control Sleep apneas

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