Sleep and epilepsy in neonates.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In clinical practice, the association between sleep and epilepsy has been increasingly observed in adults and during childhood. The aim of this article is to verify the relationship between sleep and epilepsy in the neonatal period in order to identify evidence and mechanisms to explain how epilepsy or neonatal seizures might disrupt sleep and how sleep might influence seizure occurrence and epilepsy during this age span.

METHODS: Literature review with search of PubMed database using the key words neonatal seizures and sleep.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The complex processes of cortical maturation are closely related to the regulation of sleep-wakefulness cycles. Sleep regulation in the context of neonatal seizures is frequently abnormal, and these alterations may be a result of the maladaptative plasticity of neuronal networks. Furthermore, in this situation altered connectivity might also be associated with other expressions of neurological dysfunction such as cognitive and behavioral problems. EEG background abnormalities and higher frequency of discharges are often associated with disrupted sleep organization. The outcome of newborns with seizures where sleep organization is undifferentiated seems to be more unfavorable.