Sleep and functional outcomes in children and adolescents with epilepsy: A scoping review

• Published in: Seizure (London, England) Vol. 120; pp. 89 - 103
• Main Authors: Lah, Suncica, Karapetsas, George, Winsor, Alice, Gonzalez, Linda, Mandalis, Anna, Pertini, Mark, Gascoigne, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2024
• Subjects: Behaviour; Child; Cognition; Epilepsy; Mood; Quality of life; Sleep; Sleep; Mood; Behaviour; Epilepsy; Cognition; Child; Quality of life
• ISSN: 1059-1311; 1532-2688; 1532-2688
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seizure.2024.06.006

•Sleep, epilepsy and outcome measures were highly heterogenous across the literature.•Poor sleep related to reduced life quality in epileptic children and adolescents.•Sleep issues related to poor behaviour/mood in epileptic children and adolescents.•Poor sleep did not consistently relate to cognitive outcomes in paediatric epilepsy.•No study reported relationships with sleep and academics in paediatric epilepsy. In children and adolescents with epilepsy (CAWE), disturbed sleep and functional difficulties are frequently present, but their relationship is unclear. In this scoping review we aimed to explore associations between sleep and functional outcomes in CAWE. We registered the protocol with open science framework and conducted the review according to the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews. We searched Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and PubMed for original studies reporting on relations between sleep and functional outcomes (adaptive/quality of life, behavioural/mood, cognitive & academic) in CAWE. To assess the quality of studies we used an extended version of the checklist employed by Winsor and colleagues [1]. We identified 14 studies that included 1,785 CAWE and 1,260 control children, with a mean age of 9.94 and 10.13 years, respectively. The studies were highly heterogeneous with respect to samples, epilepsy variables, and methods used to assess sleep and functional outcomes. The quality of studies was medium. Associations between sleep and adaptive/quality of life, behavioural/mood, cognitive and academic outcomes were examined in 2, 10, 6, and 0 studies, respectively. Across studies, in CAWE, greater sleep disturbances were related to worse behavioural/mood outcomes, ranging from depression/anxiety to ADHD symptoms. Sleep disturbances did not consistently relate to cognitive outcomes, but they related to worse adaptive outcomes in both studies that examined their relationship. Our study provides evidence of relationship between disturbed sleep and behavioural/mood difficulties, which alerts to the need for careful evaluation and treatment of sleep disturbances in CAWE. Our study also highlights the need to examine relationships between sleep and other functional outcomes in CAWE, as studies conducted in the general population suggest that sleep disturbances may be modifiable and associated with improved functional outcomes.