SELECTED FACTORS RELATED TO SLEEPINESS IN EPILEPSY PATIENTS

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to study sleepiness, and to examine the relationships among age, gender, types of epilepsy, antiepileptic drugs, sleep hygiene practices, depression, and sleepiness among epileptic patients. The participants consisted of 130 epileptic patients recruited by a purposive sampling from King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. The instruments included a demographic data form, the sleep hygiene questionnaire, the Center for Epidermiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), the Piper Fatigue Scale, and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. The questionnaires were reviewed by experts, and their Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were .70, .87, .95, and .70, respectively. The data were analized by using computer software package. Statistics used were percentage, Chi-square test, and Cramer’s V.
Results were as follows:
1. Most of the epileptic patients (39.23%) had sleepiness at the normal level.
2. No significant correlation were detected among age, gender, types of epilepsy, antiepileptic
drugs, sleep hygiene, fatigue, and sleepiness of the epileptic patients.
3. Positively statistical significant correlation was detected between depression (r=.36) and
sleepiness of the epileptic patients (p<.05).