Physicians have long known that poor sleep increases the risk of seizures in patients with epilepsy. New research shows that treating a common cause of sleep disturbances can dramatically reduce seizures.

“Sleep apnea is common in people with epilepsy, but few physicians screen for it,” Thapanee Somboon, MD, the lead investigator of a study and research fellow at the Sleep Disorders Center at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, said in a press release.

The study was presented on Dec. 2 at the 2017 American Epilepsy Society (AES) annual meeting.

Sleep apnea. (Source: Creative Commons)

Dr. Somboon and his colleagues evaluated the effect of positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy on 197 patients with epilepsy who underwent sleep studies using polysomnography at their facility between 1997 and 2015. Of the 197 patients, 75 did not have obstructive sleep apnea, while 122 did. Of the 122 who had sleep apnea, 73 subsequently used a positive air pressure device and 49 did not. Just over half of all patients (54%) were seizure free at the start of the study.

After one year, 63% of patients who had sleep apnea and used a PAP machine at night reported at least a 50% reduction in seizures compared to baseline. In contrast, only 14% of those with sleep apnea who did not use PAP experienced a 50% or more reduction in seizures. Among those without sleep apnea, 44% reported that their rate of seizures had dropped by 50% or more during the year.

Researchers reported an overall success rate of 85% in treated patients with sleep apnea compared to 55% for those patients with sleep apnea who had no treatment and 65% for those without sleep apnea. They defined success as patients who had seizures at baseline experiencing a 50% or more reduction and those who did not have seizures at baseline continuing to experience no seizures.