Abstract

Objective: There is a bidirectional relationship between sleep and epilepsy. In our study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of sleep disorders in patients diagnosed with epilepsy by evaluating sleep disorders with a questionnaire and to determine whether they are affected by epilepsy type, seizure frequency and antiepileptic use.

Methods: In our study, 100 patients who were followed up in our epilepsy outpatient clinic and who did not have psychiatric disease or systemic disease that may cause underlying sleep disturbance and 50 healthy control groups compatible with them were included. Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), STOP-BANG obstructive sleep apnea (OSAS) screening questionnaire test, REM Behaviour Disorder-Hong Kong Questionnaire (RBDQ-HK), SWISS Narcolepsy Scale, Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Diagnostic Form, Beck Depression Scale, Beck Anxiety Scale were applied to the patients and controls.

Results: Increased daytime sleepiness was found in 30% of our patients and up to 50% of these patients had seizures in the last 6 months. The risk of OSAS syndrome was significantly increased in patients with epilepsy, especially in patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy, male and older age (p=0.02).The prevalence of RLS was increased in patients with epilepsy and the risk was higher in female epileptics (p=0.04).Insomnia was 33% in our patient group and no correlation was found between insomnia and age, gender and number of anti-seizure medications (ASMs) used. The rate of moderate and severe depression in epilepsy patients in our study was 45%, which was significantly higher than in the general population (p=0.03).Anxiety was present in 50% of the patients (p<0.01).

Conclusion: there is a complex relationship between sleep disorders, psychiatric comorbidities and epilepsy and the presence of these comorbidities may significantly impair the quality of life of patients. In order to understand this multifaceted relationship, comparative studies with more homogenous groups and more patients are needed.