Sleepwalking and Sleep Paralysis: Prevalence in Colombian Families With Genetic Generalized Epilepsy

Sleep deprivation commonly increases seizure frequency in patients with genetic generalized epilepsy, though it is unknown whether there is an increased prevalence of sleepwalking or sleep paralysis in genetic generalized epilepsy patients. Establishing this could provide insights into the bio-mechanisms or genetic architecture of both disorders. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of sleepwalking and sleep paralysis in a cohort of patients with genetic generalized epilepsy and their relatives in extended families.

A structured interview based on International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD-3) criteria was applied to 67 index cases and their relatives to determine genetic generalized epilepsy subtypes and assess the occurrence of sleepwalking or sleep paralysis. Bivariate analysis was performed using chi-square and Fisher exact tests.

The prevalence of sleepwalking and sleep paralysis was 15.3% (95% confidence interval 12.1-18.9) and 11.7% (95% confidence interval 8.7-15.3), respectively. Unusually, no sleepwalkers were found among individuals displaying epilepsy with generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Approximately a quarter of the patients had either parasomnia or genetic generalized epilepsy. Over half the genetic generalized epilepsy families had at least 1 individual with sleepwalking, and more than 40% of the families had one individual with sleep paralysis.

The prevalence of sleepwalking or sleep paralysis is reported for individuals with genetic generalized epilepsy and their relatives. The co-existence of either parasomnia in the genetic generalized epilepsy patients and the co-aggregation within their families let suggest that shared heritability and pathophysiological mechanisms exist between these disorders. We hypothesize that sleepwalking/sleep paralysis and genetic generalized epilepsy could be variable expression of genes in shared pathways.