Sleep alterations in children with refractory epileptic encephalopathies: a polysomnographic study

Data on the relationship between sleep disturbances and refractory epileptic encephalopathies (EEs) are scarce. Our aim was to assess, by means of nocturnal polysomnography, if children with EEs present with objective alterations in sleep organization. Twenty-three children with EEs (12 males; mean age: 8.7 ± 1.4 years) and 40 healthy controls (22 males; mean age: 8.8 ± 1.1 years) underwent an overnight full polysomnography (PSG). Relative to controls, children with EEs showed a significant reduction in all PSG parameters related to sleep duration time in bed (TIB-min p < 0.001), total sleep time (TST-min p < 0.001), and sleep percentage (SPT-min p < 0.001), as well as significantly higher REM latency (FRL-min p < 0.001), rate in stage shifting (p = 0.005), and number of awakenings/hour (p = 0.002).Relative to controls, children with EEs also showed significant differences in respiratory parameters (AHI/h p < 0.001, ODI/h p < 0.001, SpO2% p < 0.001, SpO2 nadir% p < 0.001) and a higher rate of periodic limb movements (PLMs% p < 0.001). Our findings suggest that sleep evaluation could be considered mandatory in children with refractory epileptic encephalopathy in order to improve the clinical management and the therapeutic strategies.