Quantitative EEG analysis of REM sleep in children with Down syndrome.

PURPOSE The aim was to compare quantitative EEG analysis of REM sleep in children with Down syndrome (DS) and normal age-matched controls. MATERIAL AND METHODS Twenty-one channel EEG of 21 patients with Down syndrome and 21 normal children, with ages ranging from 1 to 8 years, were submitted to quantitative analysis EEG of discharge-free epochs. The signals were recorded using a set of 17 (F3, F4, F7, F8, Fz, C3, C4, Cz, P3, P4, Pz, O1, O2, T3, T4, T5, T6) scalp electrodes. For each child, 20 artifact-free EEG epochs, each of 2 s without epileptiform discharges were selected for spectral analysis to calculate spectral power. Delta, theta, alpha and beta frequency ranges were compared between groups for all electrode positions. RESULTS Quantitative analysis of the REM sleep from DS group disclosed reduction of the power mainly in the alpha when comparing the healthy group. Beta, theta and delta bands did not differ significantly between the groups. CONCLUSIONS Our findings agree with recent evidences that these children may differ from children normal development.