Effect of Ketogenic Diet on Sleep Quality of Children with Drug Resistant Epilepsy and Their Mothers

Abstract Background Children with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) often suffer from sleep disorders and psychosocial dysfunction. Their mothers also complain of sleep difficulties in relation to poorly controlled of seizure activity of their children. Recently, several studies confirmed the positive effects of the ketogenic diet (KD) on DRE both in adult and in pediatric populations. Objectives The objective of the study was to assess the effect of using KD as an adjuvant treatment on the sleep quality of children with DRE and their mothers. Patients and Methods The current prospective observational study was conducted on forty epileptic children on KD who followed up at Pediatric Neurology and Clinical Nutrition Outpatient clinics or were admitted due to drug resistant seizures at the Pediatric Neurology Department. Patients and their mothers were assessed at baseline and after 3 months of starting KD. Measures for children included children’s sleep habits questionnaire (CSHQ) and measures for mothers included Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results The mean age of the studied children was 5.19 years (±3.22). About 52.5% of the children’s parents were relatives and 20% of the children had a perinatal history of neonatal asphyxia, 87.5% gave a history of delayed development and 5% had a family history of similar cases. For children the mean score of CSHQ showed a statistically significant difference between baseline and after 3 months of starting KD with p value (<0.001). Regarding the mothers, the results showed that there was a statistically significant difference in PSQI between baseline and after 3 months of their children starting KD with p value (<0.001). Conclusion The results of this study showed an improvement of sleep quality for children with drug resistant epilepsy and their mothers over the course of 3 months of KD therapy.