الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders affecting about 1% of children. Sleep is a physiological state during which vigilant consciousness is temporarily abolished and responses to environmental stimuli are decreased. It is cyclic and associated to various changes in multiple functions, such as behavior, endocrine and other functions, the sleep/wakefulness cycle (SWC) is regulated by several mechanisms and some of them also affect the expression of epilepsy. These common mechanisms can possibly lead to modifications of the sleep wakefulness cycle in epileptic patients. Although sleep disorders are frequent, children with epilepsy are at increased risk due to a number of biological and social factors, epileptiform discharges may be activated by sleep ; Epilepsy and antiepileptic drugs may alter sleep architecture, leading to daytime somnolence. Children may also experience anxiety symptoms after a diagnosis of epilepsy, which could interrupt sleep. The most commonly acknowledged interface between epilepsy and sleep is the recognition that seizures may be more common during sleep and within the period immediately following waking, Sleep deprivation has been used as a powerful provocateur for diagnostic electroencephalography (EEG) in suspected cases of epilepsy in which the standard waking EEG study has failed to demonstrate abnormality. |