Sleep Architecture in Valproate-Induced Nocturnal Enuresis in Primary School and Preschool Children

Nocturnal enuresis is one of the side effects of valproic acid treatment, and generally underdiagnosed by clinicians. Studies reported that a variable incidence of valproic acid–induced nocturnal enuresis is 2.2% to 24% with unclear explanations of the reasons behind valproic acid–induced nocturnal enuresis. A retrospective study was carried out on 260 children (aged 5-12 years) diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy, treated with valproic acid to evaluate the nocturnal enuresis secondary to valproic acid, and to discuss the characteristics of their sleep architecture. Nocturnal enuresis was reported in 28 (10.7%) patients after a mean exposure time to valproate of 18.78±8.4 days. Nocturnal enuresis was significantly associated with younger age and serum level of valproate ( P = .05). The polysomnographic study suggested that the underlying mechanism may be related to impaired sleep efficiency, frequent arousals, prolonged sleep latency, snoring, or increased sleep depth which may impair a child’s ability to awaken to the sense of bladder fullness or contractions.Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifiers: NCT04191863