Can you determine which medication a patient is taking?
Contributed by James A. Rowley, MD, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit,
Which class of medications is associated with the EEG pattern in the fragment below?
Benzodiazepines
Discussion:
- This record demonstrates an epoch of N2 sleep, with very frequent spindles seen in the EEG leads (see answer fragment below). This is a frequent finding with benzodiazepine medications. Sleep spindles can also be seen with barbiturates and alcohol.
- Benzodiazepines have the following effects on sleep stages and architecture: decreased sleep latency, fewer stage changes, decreased stage N1 sleep, increased stage N2, increased sleep spindles, decreased Stage N3 sleep and decreased Stage R (REM) sleep. However, there may be an increase in the number of REM cycles during the night.
- Note that the non-benzodiazepines sedatives such as zolpidem and zaleplon are not associated with excessive sleep spindles. In addition, they have only mild suppressant effects on Stage R sleep and do not decrease Stage N3 sleep. .
Reference
- Qureshi, A., and Lee-Chiong, T. (2004) Medications and their effects on sleep.Medical Clinics of North America 88, 751-766
