Studies from around the world have reported that children with epilepsy (CWE) are more likely to have sleep and behavioural problems. Both sleep and behavioural problems can affect treatment and quality of life. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate sleep and behaviour in Jamaican CWE.

Parents of 61 children (26 CWE and 35 healthy children) were recruited from the University Hospital of the West Indies and the Bustamante Hospital for Children. Parents completed a demographics questionnaire, a sleep questionnaire and a behaviour questionnaire about their children.

The results showed that CWE sleep similarly compared to healthy children of the same age and sex(p>0.05). However, CWE had worse scores in problems relating to their peers (3.85 vs 2.32, p<0.01) and overall behavioural problems (16.27 vs 12.09, p<0.01). When compared to healthy children, more CWE had problems relating to peers (66% vs 32%, p<0.05) and emotional problems such as worries or anxieties (42% vs 15%, p<0.05). More CWE had learningdifficulty compared to the healthy children and with this was four times more likely to have pathological behavioural problems (OR= 3.818, p<0.05).

This study shows that more focus should be given to the psychological health of Jamaican CWE.