Abstracts

Rationale: Sleep disturbances are a common concern among children with epilepsy. Hitherto most studies have been performed with adults, although cascading effects of sleep problems are more likely during development. In this study, we compared sleep variables of infants with early-onset epilepsy and typically developing infants and explored predictors of sleep problems. Methods:  Data on night and day sleep duration and night waking frequency in infants aged between 1 and 12 months with early-onset epilepsy were collected from families enrolled in a large population based study. During a family visit, as soon as possible after diagnosis, parents were asked to complete the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (Sadeh, 2004). Moreover, we assessed information such as seizure type, age of seizure onset, and response to medication. Sleep variables from infants with epilepsy were compared to those from typically developing babies aged between 3.5 and 11 months (Pisch, 2015).Data on night and day sleep duration and night waking frequency in infants aged between 1 and 12 months with early-onset epilepsy were collected from families enrolled in a large population based study. During a family visit, as soon as possible after diagnosis, parents were asked to complete the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (Sadeh, 2004). Moreover, we assessed information such as seizure type, age of seizure onset, and response to medication. Sleep variables from infants with epilepsy were compared to those from typically developing babies aged between 3.5 and 11 months[h1]  (Pisch, 2015). [h1]? reference Results: Data were available from 160 typically developing infants and 32 infants with early-onset epilepsy. An analysis of covariance controlling for age showed that there was a main effect of epilepsy for night sleep duration, F(1, 187) = 19.35, p < 0.001, and and night waking frequency, F(1, 187) = 5.73, p = 0.018. Posthoc analyses using Tukey’s HSD indicated that typically developing infants slept significantly longer during the night, pSleep in the epilepsy group was associated with age of seizure onset when controlling for age – the earlier the seizure onset, the shorter night sleep duration, F(1, 29) = 9.13, p = 0.005. Moreover, the number of awakenings was reduced when seizures were controlled, F(2, 31) = 2.96, p =0.066. Certain sleep patterns were also characteristic in infants with different seizure types. For example, infants with focal seizures, had a more age-appropriate sleep pattern although very high intra-group variance than infants with infantile spasms.  Conclusions: Sleep variables in infants presenting with early-onset epilepsy differs already from typically developing infants shortly after diagnosis and relates to age at seizure onset, response to medication, and seizure type.  Funding: Charles Wolfson Foundation, True Colours Trust, SPARKS, Child Brain Research, Epilepsy Research UK and Willie and Mabel Morris Charitable Trust