[Epileptic sleep seizures in childhood (author's transl)]

64 children with seizures occuring during sleep were studied. No claim is made to definitive clinical results, but the clinical peculiarities of certain epileptic crises that tend to occur more frequently in sleep are presented. In 62.5% of all our cases are being treated as benign epilepsy, with centro-temporal E.E.G. foci and typical characteristics of age, hour of appearance and therapeutic response. In 32.5% are generalized seizures, and these have the widest age range at onset. The fits are at times unrelated to the length of previous sleep and respond less favourably to treatment. In 5% are either unilateral seizures or partial complex one. The incidence of a positive family history is higher than found in other epileptic groups, suggesting that sleep seizures are genetically determined.