SLEEP STUDIES IN BENIGN EPILEPSY OF CHILDHOOD WITH ROLANDIC SPIKES .1. SLEEP PATHOLOGY

Polygraphic all-night sleep records of 11 children with typical benign epilepsy of childhood with rolandic spikes (BERS) and those of eight nonepileptic controls were investigated with regard to sleep pathology. Basic properties of sleep organization and electromorphology were preserved in both groups. Seventeen quantitative sleep parameters were measured. Except for more waking in the BERS group, no sleep parameter showed significant differences between the BERS and the control group, but differences existed in comparison to normative values. We interpret our results as showing that in BERS epileptic neuronal malfunctioning does not affect sleep organization in a characteristic manner. The lack of detrimental interactions between epileptic neuronal behavior and pathological sleep alterations may be an additional cause of the benign course of BERS.