Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 31;21(3):15357597211004556.
doi: 10.1177/15357597211004556. Online ahead of print.

Proceedings of the Sleep and Epilepsy Workshop: Section 3 Mortality: Sleep, Night, and SUDEP

Affiliations

Proceedings of the Sleep and Epilepsy Workshop: Section 3 Mortality: Sleep, Night, and SUDEP

Gordon F Buchanan et al. Epilepsy Curr. .

Abstract

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is the leading cause of death in patients with refractory epilepsy. Likely pathophysiological mechanisms include seizure-induced cardiac and respiratory dysregulation. A frequently identified feature in SUDEP cases is that they occur at night. This raises the question of a role for sleep state in regulating of SUDEP. An association with sleep has been identified in a number of studies with patients and in animal models. The focus of this section of the Sleep and Epilepsy Workshop was on identifying and understanding the role for sleep and time of day in the pathophysiology of SUDEP.

Keywords: SUDEP; comorbidities; dysregulation; epilepsy; pathophysiological mechanisms; sleep.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Nashef L, So EL, Ryvlin P, Tomson T. Unifying the definitions of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2012;53(2):227–233. - PubMed
    1. Devinsky O, Hesdorffer DC, Thurman DJ, Lhatoo S, Richerson G. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: epidemiology, mechanisms, and prevention. Lancet Neurol. 2016;15(10):1075–1088. - PubMed
    1. Thurman DJ, Hesdorffer DC, French JA. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: assessing the public health burden. Epilepsia. 2014;55(10):1479–1485. - PubMed
    1. Purnell BS, Thijs RD, Buchanan GF. Dead in the night: sleep-wake and time-of-day influences on sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. Front Neurol. 2018;9:1079. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nobili L, Proserpio P, Rubboli G, Montano N, Didato G, Tassinari CA. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) and sleep. Sleep Med Rev. 2011;15(4):237–246. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources