Abstracts

The study purpose was to evaluate sleep structure following ketogenic diet (KD) in 18 children with therapy resistant and for surgery not eligible epilepsy and to correlate possible alterations with changes in seizure frequency, seizure severity, quality of life (QOL) and behaviour. Eighteen children were examined with ambulatory polysomnographic recordings (PSG) before and after three months of KD. The Embla A10 Flaga-Medcare digital data recorder with sampling rate 200 Hz and 16 bits resolution was used. The digitalized data was transferred to Somnologica 3.1 (Flaga hf. Medical Devices). Sleep parameters were scored according to Rechtschaffen and Kales criteria (1968) both automatically and manually. We used the Somnologica automatic sleep scoring hypnogram with necessary corrections for overestimated slow wave sleep (SWS) and underestimated REM. Sleep stage 3 and 4 were treated together as SWS. Seizure frequency was recorded in a diary and seizure severity in National health seizure severity scale (NHS3). QOL was assessed by visual analogue scale. Child Behaviour Checklist and Ponsford and Kensella[apos]s Rating-Scale of Attention Behaviour were used. KD induces a significant decrease in total sleep and total night sleep. Slow wave sleep is preserved, REM sleep is increased and sleep stadium two is decreased. Seizure frequency, seizure severity, QOL and attention behaviour were significantly improved at three months. There was a significant correlation between increased REM and improvement in QOL (Spearman r= 0.6, p=0.01). Ketogenic Diet decreases night sleep and improves sleep quality in children with therapy resistant epilepsy.[table1] (Supported by Linnéa och Josef Carlssons foundation.)