Background: Sleep and sleep deprivation plays a major role in EEG abnormalities and also idiopathic and symptomatic seizures. The aims of this study were to compare baseline EEG findings with waking and sleep EEGs after sleep deprivation in patients with sleep seizure.
Methods : In this cross-sectional study, 33 patients with sleep seizure attending the Neurology Clinic of Sina Hospital in Tehran, Iran, during year 2009 were enrolled. After a baseline EEG, patients were asked to remain awake for 24 hours before taking a waking and a sleep EEG. Finally, the baseline EEGs were compared with findings from waking and sleep EEGs after sleep deprivation.
Results : From 33 patients with sleep seizure, sixteen (48.5%) patients were female and seventeen (51.5%) were male. Patients aged from 7 to 49 years and the mean age of the participants was 26.83 (SD=10.69) years. Twenty patients had no family histories of seizure contrary to 13 patients with a positive history for the disease. There was statistically significant differences between the baseline and waking EEGs after sleep deprivation (P=0.042) as there was between baseline and sleep EEGs (P=0.041). Moreover, there was significant differences between waking and sleep EEGs after sleep deprivation (P=0.048).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated the effects of sleep deprivation on EEG findings in patients with sleep seizure. In patients with sleep seizure, waking and sleep EEGs could be better demonstrated after sleep deprivation than routine waking EEGs. According to the results of this study, waking EEGs taken after a period of sleep deprivation is superior to sleep EEGs after the deprivation.