RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The relationship between epilepsy and sleep is bidirectional as seizures disrupt sleep and coexisting sleep disorders have detrimental effects on seizure control and quality of life for both the children and their families. Previous research has reported on sleep disturbance in children with epilepsy primarily by subjective parental reports. Actigraphy may provide a more accurate objective evaluation of sleep, but the validity of this sleep measure for children with epilepsy has not yet been assessed. The primary objective of this study was to validate the use of actigraphy as a tool in studying sleep patterns in children with epilepsy. METHODS: This was a prospective study comparing sleep and wake epochs recorded for 24 h simultaneously by actigraphy and by continuous video-electroencephalography (VEEG) monitoring in 27 patients aged 2-18 years with medically refractory epilepsy. RESULTS: Strong correlations were found between actigraphy and VEEG sleep variables including night sleep period (r = 0.99), night sleep time (r = 0.96), duration of night wake time (r = 0.93) and number of significant wakings during the night (r = 0.81). CONCLUSION: The study results validate that actigraphy is a reliable and objective clinical and research tool for evaluating sleep and wakefulness in children with epilepsy.