Interictal electroencephalography in night terrors and somnambulism.
Night terrors and somnambulism (NTS) are defined as disorders of arousal occurring in children during Stage 3 to 4 of NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep. In this study, the interictal EEG recordings in 35 neurologically normal children with clinical NTS were studied. Sixteen children (47%) had disturbed records including: localized slow, spike or sharp wave activity; generalized bursts of high voltage, sharp waves, spikes and slow delta activity or spike and wave complexes; and episodic high-voltage delta activity during wakeful rest. This percentage represents half the incidence of interictal EEG abnormalities in childhood epilepsy, but far greater than the 10 to 15% found in healthy children.
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003700:Delta Rhythm; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012640:Seizures / Q000175:diagnosis; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013009:Somnambulism / Q000503:physiopathology*