[Sleep in children with episodic sleep phenomena: a comparison with the normal child]

(1) The sleep pattern of 23 children, aged 5-12 years, with episodic nocturnal phenomena (night-terrors, somnambulism, rhythmic movements) was recorded during two successive nights. It was compared with that of a group of 21 normal children of the same age. (2) In the pathological group, slow wave sleep (SLP, stages 3 and 4) was significantly shortened during the 2 nights. This deficit mainly involved the first 3h of sleep. (3) As for the slow wave sleep, REM sleep (SP) modifications prevailed during the first hours of sleep. The first REM period was delayed and preceded by more numerous and atypical partial REM periods. The duration of the first REM period increased faster as a function of its latency than in the normal child. (4) In contrast with this difficulty for REM sleep to occur during the first part of the night, the subsequent REM sleep pattern was similar in the 2 groups (total REM sleep duration, mean REM period duration, mean REM cycle duration). For equal latencies, REM periods had similar duration. Finally, the total REM sleep amount was a linear function of the total sleep time, with more or less identical coefficients for the two groups. (5) The part played by these modifications during the first hours of sleep in the occurrence of night terrors and somnambulism is discussed.