Effects of daytime secondarily generalized epileptic seizures on sleep during the following night

Abstract

Nocturnal seizures may disturb sleep, but the effect of an epileptic seizure during daytime on sleep during the next night has been under investigated. In this proof-of-principle study, the sleep of 425 patients with epilepsy, who underwent long-term video-electroencephalography recordings, was analyzed. The sleep recordings were retrospectively divided into two groups: Seizure Free, no seizure occurred at least 24h before the start of the night sleep recording, and Daytime Seizure, at least one (secondarily) generalized seizure occurred during the day before. In Daytime Seizure, longer time in bed and latency to first REM and more NREM II were seen as well as a decrease of deep sleep and REM sleep compared to Seizure Free. As many participants underwent long-term recordings over a period longer than 48h, we had the opportunity to compare in individual patients the sleep architecture during nights with and without seizures on the day before the recording. Time in bed and WASO were longer, and sleep efficiency was less in the nights after a seizure on the day before the recording. These differences were statistically significant, but their clinical relevance is doubtful.