Calidad del sueño e factores de impacto en adultos mayores con epilepsia

This study aimed to describe sleep quality and the prevalence of poor sleepers in older adults with epilepsy (OAE), and to identify epilepsy-related factors associated with sleep quality.

We conducted a case-control study including 175 OAE and 700 older adults without epilepsy. Demographic characteristics, clinical conditions, and epilepsy-related factors were collected. Sleep quality was evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), with scores > 5 indicating poor sleep.

OAE had significantly higher global PSQI scores than controls (6.1 [3.3] vs. 4.6 [3.2], p < 0.001), with 48.6 % classified as poor sleepers compared to 19.9 % in controls (p < 0.001). OAE had longer sleep latency, shorter sleep duration, lower sleep efficiency, more sleep disturbances, higher frequency of sleeping medication use, and greater daytime dysfunction (all p < 0.05). Poor sleepers in the OAE group exhibited shorter sleep duration, more severe sleep disturbances, and daytime dysfunction (p < 0.05) compared with controls. Multivariate linear regression models indicated that, epilepsy onset at older age was associated with greater sleep disturbances (β = 0.006, p = 0.005) and less sleep medication use (β = -0.011, p = 0.009); longer epilepsy duration was correlated with fewer sleep disturbances (β = -0.006, p = 0.006) and more sleep medication use (β = 0.011, p = 0.008); higher seizure frequency was associated with longer sleep duration (β = -0.228, p = 0.023).

OAE exhibited significantly poorer sleep quality compared to controls, with sleep disturbances closely linked to epilepsy-related factors. These findings underscore the need for comprehensive sleep assessment and management of seizures in clinical care for OAE, with the goal of improving their overall health outcomes.