The acceptability of sleep-deprived electroencephalograms

The aim of this study was to ascertain the acceptability of sleep-deprived EEGs to parents and their young child. Fifty unselected children having a s leep-deprived EEG were recruited. Data were collected from a sleep diary, a parent questionnaire and the request form of the EEG. Data collected cover ed developmental, learning and behavioural problems and the acceptability o f the sleep-deprived EEG. There were 29 males (58%) in the study group. The average age was 8.6 years (range 2-17 years). Fifty percent of parents fou nd it difficult to keep their child awake at night and 30% of parents found it difficult to wake their child in the morning. Fifty-four percent of par ents reported their child had difficult behaviour on the day of the EEG. No ne had seizures provoked by sleep deprivation. (C) 1999 BEA Trading Ltd.