Abstracts

Rationale: Children with epilepsy (CWE) are known to have a higher risk for developing sleep and behavioural disorders. Sleep and behaviour have not yet been studied in Jamaican children with epilepsy. Our aim therefore, was to evaluate sleep and behaviour in Jamaican CWE and to determine if there is an association with epilepsy related variables as sleep and behaviour may influence treatment options and quality of life. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional case-control study. Participants were recruited from the University Hospital of the West Indies and the Bustamante Hospital for Children between September 2017 and March 2018. Cases were identified along with age and gender matched controls. Informed consent was obtained from the parent/guardian of participants followed by the completion of a demographics questionnaire, the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) by both cases and controls. Further clinical data was obtained from dockets by clinical staff using a data collection sheet. Results: Parents of 61 children (26 cases and 35 controls) consented to take part in the study. There was no difference in sleep scores or frequency of sleep disorder between cases and controls (p>0.05). CWE had higher scores than controls in peer problems (3.85 vs 2.32, p<0.01), internal problems (7.42 vs 4.71, p<0.01) and total SDQ scores (16.27 vs 12.09, p<0.01). Learning difficulty (B=3.160, p<0.05) and SDSC total score (B=0.250, p<0.01) were predictors of scoring higher on the SDQ questionnaire. Although not significantly different, the frequency of abnormal SDQ scores was considerably higher in CWE than controls (46% vs 24%). Learning difficulty was a risk factor of having abnormal total SDQ score (OR= 3.818, p<0.05). CWE also had higher frequency of abnormal peer problems (65% vs 32%, p<0.05) and emotional problems score (42% vs 15%, p<0.05) when compared to controls. Conclusions: The sleep scores of Jamaican CWE are similar to that of healthy controls. However, Jamaican CWE are more likely to have internal type behavioural disorders such as peer and emotional problems compared to controls. It is important that the psychological health of Jamaican CWE be taken into consideration during treatment to improve overall quality of life. Funding: None