Observational study of prevalence of sleep disorder in patients with epilepsy

Abstract

BackgroundReduced sleep quality with subsequent excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is found in patients with epilepsy. AimTo know the frequency of sleep disorders in comparison to control group to know the predictors of sleep disorders that have implications on management of patient with epilepsy. Materials and methods199 patients with epilepsy and 48 controls, who attended Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences were taken into the study.The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) are two questionnaires commonly used in clinical assessment of EDS and sleep quality. Results24.6% of PWE are found to have problems with sleep disorders when compared to controls (10.6%). PWE had significantly higher scores when compared to controls in global PSQI total scores (3.78 vs. 2.43). Sleep latency and medication use (0.83 vs. 0.53 and 0.52 vs. 0.06 respectively) as well as sleep quality and sleep efficiency are poor as indicated by high scores (0.75 vs. 0.40 and 0.22 vs.0.20 respectively). ConclusionPoor sleep quality of PWE in PSQI correlated with EDS of ESS. Poor control of seizures, polytherapy, and partial epilepsy make the PWE statistically more vulnerable to poor sleep quality thereby having therapeutic implications.