[Interictal epileptiform discharges in children with epilepsy].
OBJECTIVE
To study the features of interictal epileptiform discharges (IED) during sleep and wakefulness in children with epilepsy.


METHODS
The polysomnography, active EEG and video EEG were performed on 48 children with epilepsy during the whole night, and wakefulness of pre- and post-sleep. The epileptiform sharp/spike discharge indexes during sleep and wakefulness were recorded. The positive rate of IED in focal and generalized epilepsy was compared.


RESULTS
Of the 48 patients, 25 showed IED, including 9 cases (36.0%) in the generalized seizure group and 16 cases (64.0%) in the focal seizure group (P<0.05). The epileptiform sharp/spike discharge indexes in the whole non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep stage (stages S1-S4: 21.13+/-19.96, 19.59+/-17.76, 22.85+/-18.99, and 20.37+/-16.63) were significantly higher than that in the wakefulness stage (8.20+/-6.21) (P<0.05). The discharge index in the S3 stage during NREM sleep was higher than that during the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (22.85+/-18.99 vs 12.91+/-10.95; P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The positive rate of IED in the focal seizure group was higher than that in the generalized seizure group. Sleep, especially NREM sleep, facilitates IED in children with epilepsy.
Department of Neurology, Shenzhen Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518026, China.
Yu-Han
YH
Xiao
Jian-Xiang
JX
Liao
Juan
J
Huang
Jian-Ning
JN
Mai
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D017286:Polysomnography; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology