ArticleEpilepsia2025
More variable circadian rhythms in epilepsy captured by long-term heart rate recordings from wearable sensors.
Article in Epilepsia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Timing is everything: Expert opinion on researching epilepsy rhythms by the ILAE Task Force on Chronobiology.Epilepsia · 2026Review
- More variable circadian rhythms in epilepsy captured by long-term heart rate recordings from wearable sensors.Epilepsia · 2025Article
- Optimising anti-seizure medication timing using a dynamic network model of seizure rhythms.Frontiers in network physiology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe circadian rhythm synchronizes physiological and behavioral patterns with the 24-h light-dark cycle. Disruption to the circadian rhythm is linked to various health conditions, although optimal methods to describe these disruptions remain unclear. An emerging approach is to examine the intraindividual variability in measurable properties of the circadian rhythm over extended periods. Epileptic seizures are modulated by circadian rhythms, but the relevance of circadian rhythm disruption in epilepsy remains unexplored. Our study investigates intraindividual circadian variability in epilepsy and its relationship with seizures.
methodsWe retrospectively analyzed >70 000 h of wearable smartwatch data (Fitbit) from 143 people with epilepsy (PWE) and 31 healthy controls. Circadian oscillations in heart rate time series were extracted, daily estimates of circadian period, acrophase, and amplitude properties were produced, and estimates of the intraindividual variability of these properties over an entire recording were calculated.
resultsPWE exhibited greater intraindividual variability in period (76 vs. 57 min, d = .66, p < .001) and acrophase (64 vs. 48 min, d = .49, p = .004) compared to controls, but not in amplitude (2 beats per minute, d = -.15, p = .49). Variability in circadian properties showed no correlation with seizure frequency nor any differences between weeks with and without seizures. SIGNIFICANCE: For the first time, we show that heart rate circadian rhythms are more variable in PWE, detectable via consumer wearable devices. However, no association with seizure frequency or occurrence was found, suggesting that this variability might be underpinned by the epilepsy etiology rather than being a seizure-driven effect.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.