According to findings in Pediatric Neurology, children with epilepsy are more likely to experience sleep disturbances that may potentially worsen over time.
Conducted at the University of Michigan, the responses of the parental figures of more than 300 children with epilepsy was analyzed. The participants were chosen as part of the Rare Epilepsy Network survey.
In the study, over half of the respondents reported sleep concerns involving frequent nighttime awakenings and difficulty falling sleep. About three fourths of the children’s sleep was affected by seizures.
“Reported sleep concerns are highly prevalent in children with early-life epilepsies (ELEs) and persist with age, in contrast to what is expected in healthy children,” the findings state. “There may be unmet sleep-related clinical needs in children with ELEs.”
The study was published online on December 16th, 2021.
