Sleep characteristics of patients with epilepsy with pure sleep-related seizures

ObjectiveOur aim was to investigate the clinical features and sleep characteristics of patients with pure sleep-related seizures.MethodsPatients with pure sleep epilepsy were prospectively enrolled and their clinical, EEG, and MRI findings investigated. The Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale (MOS-SS) was administered after receiving consent.ResultsThirty-nine of 1401 consecutive patients (2.7%) with pure sleep-related seizures were included. Of these, 30 (76.9%) had epilepsy of unknown cause and 7 had epilepsy with known structural etiologies. Twenty-seven patients reported less than one seizure per month and 19 had been seizure free for at least 1 year. Thirty-four patients participated in our MOS-SS study. Comparison of sleep problems between those with epilepsy and healthy controls and between the subgroups with frequent and rare seizures did not reveal significant differences.ConclusionPatients with pure sleep seizures had mostly undetermined etiology usually with a good prognosis, and this rare condition did not seem to affect their sleep quality.

Research highlights
► The clinical and sleep characteristics of 39 patients with pure sleep seizures.
► 30 (76.9%) of these patients had epilepsy with unknown etiology.
► Pure nocturnal seizures usually have a good prognosis under monotherapy.
► This rare condition does not affect sleep quality according to the MOS-Sleep Scale.