Peer-reviewed article
Association between sleep duration at 12 and 18 months and epilepsy risk at 2-3 years: the Japan Environment and Children's Study.
Arai Y, Okanishi T, Masumoto T, Noma H, Maegaki Y ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined whether babies who sleep fewer than 11 hours per night at 12 and 18 months have a higher risk of developing epilepsy by ages 2-3 years. Using data from nearly 86,500 Japanese children, researchers found that insufficient sleep in infancy was significantly associated with increased epilepsy risk. Children sleeping less than the recommended 11 hours at 12 months were about twice as likely to develop epilepsy, and this risk remained when sleep was insufficient at both 12 and 18 months.
Key points
- 10.2% of children slept less than 11 hours at 12 months; 14.9% slept less than 11 hours at 18 months
- Sleep duration under 11 hours at 12 months was associated with 2.02 times higher odds of epilepsy at 2-3 years (95% CI 1.01-4.01)
- Sleep under 11 hours at both 12 and 18 months was associated with 2.77 times higher odds of epilepsy at 3 years (95% CI 1.28-6.01)
- The association remained statistically significant after adjusting for multiple factors
Limitations
This is an observational study using retrospective data, so it cannot establish whether insufficient sleep causes epilepsy or whether other unmeasured factors explain the association. The study documents correlation but not causation, and results may not generalise beyond the Japanese population studied.
Abstract
Background Sleep deprivation has notable effects on neurobehavioural functioning in children. However, the link between sleep duration and the risk of developing epilepsy in early childhood remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to explore the association between sleep duration at 12 and 18 months and the risk of epilepsy at 2 and 3 years of age. Methods Data from the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS), a largescale birth cohort, were analysed. We assessed the risk of epilepsy at 2 and 3 years of age among children sleeping under 11 hours per night, the minimum recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for 1-2 year olds. Results Overall, 86 441 children were retrospectively analysed. Of these, 8786 (10.2%) and 12 850 (14.9%) slept for less than 11 hours at 12 months and 18 months, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression showed that a sleep duration of less than 11 hours at 12 months remained significantly associated with epilepsy incidence at 2 and 3 years (adjusted OR (aOR) 2.02, 95% CI 1.01 to 4.01, p=0.045; aOR 1.98, 95% CI 1.15 to 3.41, p=0.013). Furthermore, a sleep duration of less than 11 hours at 12 and 18 months was significantly associated with epilepsy incidence at 3 years (aOR 2.77, 95% CI 1.28 to 6.01, p=0.010). Conclusions Insufficient sleep in infancy may be linked to epilepsy later in childhood. These findings highlight the importance of sleep interventions during early life to improve long-term neurological health.