Melatonin does not influence sleep deprivation electroencephalogram recordings in children

Abstract

We conclude that melatonin does not alter the quality of sleep EEG studies in children with epilepsy or suspected epilepsy. Melatonin does not increase the rate of successfully performed EEG studies in sleep-deprived children.

The role of melatonin to attain electroencephalograms in children in a sub-Saharan African setting

“…The median sleep latency was 45 min, which is in-line with the reported upper limit of median sleep latency/onset of sleep between 5 min to 45 min [9,10,22]. The reason for this wide difference includes the variance in melatonin dosing, differences in application of sleep deprivation and subject selection as well as other factors such as environmental differences and study population.…”

“…This study supported that melatonin is effective for attaining sleep EEG recordings in our setting. 86% of the children were achieved stage 2 sleep which is within the range of 75-90% reported in the literature (Table 4) [8,10,[13][14][15][16][17][18] Melatonin has become increasingly popular as a sleep-inducer for both children and adults and has been found to be effective even among children with neurological abnormalities [19][20][21].Among neurophysiology units worldwide, there have been reports of its effectiveness in inducing sleep for EEG and the fact that it does not affect the sleep structure or the epileptiform discharges (Table 4) [8][9][10][16][17][18]22,23].…”

“…Further, all the children achieved a useful EEG record those even who did not sleep. Despite not sleeping the children were relaxed and calm with some achieving stage 1 sleep but although they did not sleep deep enough for sleep spindles, and hence were recorded not to have slept [9]. In an ideal setting surface electrodes would be always placed at the time of administering the melatonin and study performed once the child slept without need for further tactile contact.…”

“…The EEGs were evaluated for the quality of the records in terms of peak frequency and amplitude on a digital monitor at the frontal and parieto-occipital regions of the EEG. Quantitative assessment of these recordings were based on the system used by Sander et al [9] grading artefact on a scale 1-5 (1 = no artefacts; 2 = some, minor artefacts; 3 = moderate amount of artefacts; 4 = substantial artefacts, but EEG recording could be assessed; 5 = unsatisfactory/ invalid such that EEG could not be assessed). Overall data was reviewed and discussed to ensure consistency and consensus.…”

“…Melatonin (5-Methoxy-N-acetyltryptamine) is a pineal hormone and has been widely used to treat sleep disturbances. It has been successfully used to induce sleep EEGs in adults and children in centres overseas [8][9][10]. In the early stages of this study an informal survey was sent to colleagues in major centres worldwide.…”