OBJECTIVES: To identify children with afebrile seizures in a national cohort, classify the seizures, and document progress in the first 10 years of life. DESIGN: Population based birth cohort study. SETTING: The child health and education study, which includes 16,004 neonatal survivors (98.5% of infants born in the United Kingdom during one week of April 1970). SUBJECTS: 14,676 children for whom relevant information was available. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Responses to parental and general practitioner questionnaires and hospital records at 5 and 10 years after birth. RESULTS: 84 children (42 boys, 42 girls) had had one or more afebrile seizure (incidence 5.7/1000). 63 children (31 boys, 32 girls) had epilepsy (incidence 4.3/1000). 49 of 55 children had a second seizure within a year of the first. The commonest seizure types were tonic-clonic (42) and complex partial (25). A greater proportion of children with complex partial seizures had recurrences. Children who had infantile spasms or a mixed seizure disorder had a poor outcome. All six children who died had symptomatic seizures in the first year, but seizures were not the direct cause of death. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are probably representative of seizure patterns in the general population. Outcome after seizures is determined more by the underlying disease than by the seizures themselves.
OBJECTIVES: To identify children with afebrile seizures in a national cohort, classify the seizures, and document progress in the first 10 years of life. DESIGN: Population based birth cohort study. SETTING: The child health and education study, which includes 16,004 neonatal survivors (98.5% of infants born in the United Kingdom during one week of April 1970). SUBJECTS: 14,676 children for whom relevant information was available. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Responses to parental and general practitioner questionnaires and hospital records at 5 and 10 years after birth. RESULTS: 84 children (42 boys, 42 girls) had had one or more afebrile seizure (incidence 5.7/1000). 63 children (31 boys, 32 girls) had epilepsy (incidence 4.3/1000). 49 of 55 children had a second seizure within a year of the first. The commonest seizure types were tonic-clonic (42) and complex partial (25). A greater proportion of children with complex partial seizures had recurrences. Children who had infantile spasms or a mixed seizure disorder had a poor outcome. All six children who died had symptomatic seizures in the first year, but seizures were not the direct cause of death. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are probably representative of seizure patterns in the general population. Outcome after seizures is determined more by the underlying disease than by the seizures themselves.
Authors: Leah R Goldberg; Catherine G Kernie; Kathleen Lillis; Jonathan Bennett; Gregory Conners; Charles G Macias; James Callahan; Cigdem Akman; W Allen Hauser; Nathan Kuppermann; Peter S Dayan Journal: Acad Emerg Med Date: 2017-11-28 Impact factor: 3.451