Sleep patterns and stress hormones could be the key to understanding how and when epilepsy patients are likely to experience seizures.
- In one study, Australian and British researchers used mathematical modeling and analyzed recordings from 107 adults with epilepsy.
- Two subgroups with distinct distributions of epileptiform discharges were discovered. One with a higher incidence during sleep and the other during the day.
- Cortisol dynamics, sleep phase transition, or a combination of both explained most of the observed distributions of epileptiform discharges in patients.
In France, around 600,000 people suffer from epilepsy, half of whom are under 20 years old. As a reminder, this neurological disease is associated with various abnormalities, including recurrent and spontaneous seizures. “These are thought to occur randomly. However, previous research has uncovered underlying rhythms in both seizures and the main signatures of epilepsy (so-called epileptiform activity interictal) with time scales that vary from a few hours and days to several months”, said Australian and British scientists.
Epilepsy: a higher incidence of epileptiform discharges during sleep or daytime
To understand the physiological mechanisms that determine these rhythmic patterns of epileptiform discharges, researchers quantified the impact of stress, lack of sleep and fatigue. In many epileptic patients, these three physiological factors are identified as those that trigger seizures. For the purposes of the work, published in the journal PLOS Computational Biologythe team analyzed 24-hour electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of 107 people with epilepsy.
The authors discovered two subgroups with distinct distributions of epileptiform discharges: one with a higher incidence during sleep and the other during the day. Using mathematical modeling, they then found that the dynamics of cortisol (the stress hormone) or the transition of sleep phases, or a combination of the two, could explain most of the observed distributions of epileptiform discharges.
Sleep, stress: “physiological factors underlying the rhythms” of epileptic seizures
“Our results provide conceptual evidence that sleep patterns and changes in cortisol concentration are physiological factors underlying epileptiform discharge rhythms. Our mathematical approach provides a framework to better understand which factors facilitate the occurrence of epileptiform discharges. dysfunctional activity and potentially trigger the seizures that can be so debilitating for people with epilepsy,” concluded the researchers in un press release.