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.