Mohamed Abdelaziz El-Gamasy
Background: There were few publications which concern sleep disorders in pediatric patients with SLE. The main goal of this study, to assess sleep patterns in pediatric patients with SLE and to detect whether there was relation between active lupus nephritis and sleep disturbances in pediatric patients.
Methods: This work was conducted on 50 children and adolescents with Systemic Lupus Erythematosis (SLE). Their mean disease duration ranged from 0.5-10 years. SLE disease activity was studied using SLEDAI score. They were compared with 30 ages and sex matched healthy children as controls. Their sleep patterns were evaluated by a pediatric sleep quality assessment questionnaire and by polysomnography (PSG).
Results: The sleep quality questionnaire showed disordered sleep patterns in patients when compared to controls, which were presented as limb pains at extremities, difficulty in morning arousal, awakening during night and prolonged day time sleepiness. PSG data revealed significant differences between the patients and controls in form of less slow wave sleep percent (SWS%), more sleep disordered breathing evidenced by respiratory disturbance index (RDI), periodic limb movement disorders (PLMD) and arousal index in children with SLE when compared with controls (P<0.005). There was a significant positive correlation between difficult arousal at morning and sleepiness during day time and SLEDAI of the studied patients.
Conclusion: Marked abnormal sleep architecture were reported in children with SLE as evidenced by findings of sleep assessment questionnaire and PSG. Respiratory and movement disorders were the most frequent.
