Melatonin in Epilepsy and Febrile Seizures

A study on melatonin rhythm in children with generalized idiopathic epilepsy and simple fever is presented in this article. A population of 40 children was divided into 4 groups, namely, epilepsy, febrile seizure, and 2 control groups. Salivary melatonin was measured by means of radioimmunoassay. Friedman 2-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Wilcoxon tests were employed to assess the existence of melatonin rhythm. Comparison across groups was performed by means of ANOVA and Mann-Whitney tests. Higher melatonin levels were found at night, with a peak at 04: 00 h in all groups. Significant diurnal rhythm was also detected for these levels. No significant overall differences between case and control groups were found for melatonin levels, though patients showed lower peak melatonin values than controls at 04: 00 h with a significant difference in the febrile seizure group (10.70 vs 19.5 pg/mL respectively; P<.04). Our data support the presence of diurnal rhythm in blood melatonin concentrations in children with epileptic and febrile seizures. Comparison between case and control groups showed lower peak concentrations in the febrile seizure group with respect to healthy controls.