Morningness and Eveningness in Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy
Abstract number :
3.189
Submission category :
Clinical Epilepsy-All Ages
Year :
2006
Submission ID :
6852
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/1/2006 12:00:00 AM
Published date :
Nov 30, 2006, 06:00 AM
Authors :
Jorge J. Asconapé, and Jan C. McGee
Humans have individual differences in the timing of their daily activities falling between two extremes: morning types (larks) and evening types (owls). The normal work schedules, determined by light/dark cycles, tend to favor morning types and could lead to chronic sleep deprivation in evening types. As a group, patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) show a tendency for being [quot]owls[quot]. This particular circadian sleep pattern is often not recognized by treating physicians but can have important implications in the diagnosis and managment of these patients., We adminstered the English version of the Horne-östberg self-assesment questionnaire1 to 12 patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy to determine their morningness and eveningness chronotypes. All patients included had both clinical and EEG findings consistent with IGE., Of the 12 patients, 7 had juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, 3 had IGE with generalized tonic-clonic seizures only, and 2 had juvenile absence epilepsy. Mean age at the time of testing was 19.6 years (r: 15-25 years).
The mean test score was 39.1 (r: 25-64) which corresponds to a moderately evening type. Two patients (16.7%) were scored as definitely evening type, 5 (41.7%) as moderately evening type, 4 (33.3%) as neither and 1 (8.3%) as a moderately morning type. When patients were asked to classify themselves as either a [quot]morning[quot] versus [quot]evening[quot] type, 7 (58.3%) indicated a definitely evening type, 4 (33.3%) a moderately evening type and 1 (8.3%) a moderately morning type., Data from this preliminary series suggests that the evening chronotype predominates in patients with IGE. Inquiring about chronotypes may be helpful in the initial diagnosis of IGE. More important, eveningness has been associated with chronic sleep deprivation, a well-known seizure precipitating factor in IGE, so its recognition may be important for clinical management.
Reference
1. Horne JA, östberg O. A self-assessment questionnaire to determine morningness-eveningness in human circadian rhythms. Int J Chronobiol 1976;4:97-110.,
Clinical Epilepsy