Subjective Sleep Disturbance in Patients with Partial Epilepsy: A Questionnaire‐based Study on Prevalence and Impact on Quality of Life

• Published in: Epilepsia (Copenhagen) 2004-11, Vol.45 (11), p.1397-1404
• Main Authors: De Weerd, Al, De Haas, Sanne, Otte, Andreas, Trenité, Dorothée Kasteleijn‐Nolst, Van Erp, Gerard, Cohen, Adam, De Kam, Marieke, Van Gerven, Joop
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Ambulatory Care; Anticonvulsants. Antiepileptics. Antiparkinson agents; Biological and medical sciences; Comorbidity; Cross-Sectional Studies; Denmark - epidemiology; Drug toxicity and drugs side effects treatment; Epidemiology; Epilepsies, Partial - diagnosis; Epilepsies, Partial - epidemiology; Epilepsies, Partial - psychology; Epilepsy; Female; Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy; Health Status; Health Surveys; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Neuropharmacology; Partial seizures; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Quality of Life; Sleep disturbance; Sleep Wake Disorders - diagnosis; Sleep Wake Disorders - epidemiology; Sleep Wake Disorders - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Toxicity: urogenital system
• ISSN: 0013-9580; 1528-1167
• DOI: 10.1111/j.0013-9580.2004.46703.x

Purpose: This study was designed to assess whether sleep disturbance is more frequent among patients with partial seizures and what impact on quality of life (QoL) sleep disturbance may have on patients with partial seizures. Methods: Questionnaire booklets were mailed to 1,183 patients from four Dutch clinics. Each patient was asked to find two age‐ and gender‐matched controls to complete the same set of questionnaires [Sleep Diagnosis List (SDL), Medical Outcomes Study (MOS)‐Sleep Scale, Groningen Sleep Questionnaire, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the SF‐36 Health Survey]. The prevalence of sleep disturbance, based on the SDL, was compared between those with partial epilepsy and controls. Mean scores on sleep and the SF‐36 Physical (PCS) and Mental (MCS) Component Summary scales were compared. Results: Responses from 486 patients and 492 controls were analyzed. Respondents with partial epilepsy had a highly significant, twofold higher prevalence of sleep disturbance compared with controls (38.6 vs. 18.0%; p < 0.0001). Most sleep‐disorder subscales showed significant abnormalities in respondents with epilepsy, compared with controls. Mean SF‐36 MCS and PCS scores were significantly lower in respondents with epilepsy compared with controls in both the strata with sleep disturbance and without (all p values