ESPE Abstracts

Objective: To perform a pilot study on the frequency of sleep-disturbance (Total sleep Disturbance Score (TSD) of > 41) in children diagnosed with Drug Resistant Epilepsy aged 4 to 12 years, using the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ).

Method: The Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) was used to screen for sleep disturbances among 73 patients aged 4 to 12 years old, with drug-resistant epilepsy seen at the Seizure Clinic of a Tertiary Pediatric Hospital in Quezon City. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize sociodemographic variables, and sleep and epilepsy-related variables. Continuous data were presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD), and categorical data as frequencies (percentages).

Result: The current study showed that sleep disturbances were common and severe in children with drug-resistant epilepsy. Out of the seventy-three participants, 61 patients had a TSD score of greater than 41 (84%) and 12 (16%) had TSD scores below 41 with a mean CSHQ score of 58. The most frequently occurring sleep disturbances involve the domains of bedtime resistance (29%), night wakings (28%), and daytime sleepiness (23%). Meanwhile, the least frequently occurring sleep disturbances involve the domains of sleep disordered breathing (76%), parasomnias (65%), and sleep anxiety (56%).

Conclusion: Majority of the children with drug-resistant epilepsy are sleep disturbed exhibiting high TSD scores (>41) when examined using the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Findings of this study recommends the need to actively evaluate and screen for sleep and behavioral problems concurrently when seeing children with epilepsy.