Incidence of Neonatal status epilepticus

BACKGROUND: Acute seizures are a common cause of paediatric admissions to hospitals in resource poor countries and a risk factor for neurological and cognitive impairment and epilepsy. We determined the incidence, aetiological factors and the immediate outcome of seizures in a rural malaria endemic area in coastal Kenya. METHODS: We recruited all children with and without seizures, aged 0-13 years and admitted to Kilifi District hospital over 2 years from 1st December 2004 to 30th November 2006...

Symptomatic epilepsies usually report themselves after a longer period of time after brain injury, after the so-called latent period. During this period progressive functional and structural changes occur which finally cause an increased excitatory condition. The process of epileptogenesis may be examined in animal models, such as in the kindling, status epilepticus, hypoxicischaemic models. Data gained from such sources support the hypothesis that the first injury results in a lower seizure threshold, but genetical and environmental factors also contribute to the development of epilepsy and most probably further insults may be needed...

PURPOSE: To analyse clinical data including aetiology, age, antecedents, classification and mortality in human status epilepticus (SE), and to assess prognostic factors for mortality. METHODS: A prospective study was performed, including detailed analysis of clinical and laboratorial data of SE in individuals of any age, except neonates. RESULTS: One hundred and eleven SE were included, with patients' age ranging from 3 months to 98 years...

OBJECTIVES: To study the occurrence, associated factors, nature and prognosis of seizures in children with cerebral palsy (CP). DESIGN: A prospective, descriptive, hospital-based, case-control study. SETTING: Tertiary level University Teaching Hospitals in the Al Ain Medical District, United Arab Emirates. PATIENTS: Fifty-six children with CP and seizures seen in the neurodevelopmental clinics at Al Ain and Tawam University Hospitals during the period of 1997-1999 were studied (group 1)...

The response of the developing brain to epileptic seizures and to status epilepticus is highly age-specific. Neonates with their low cerebral metabolic rate and fragmentary neuronal networks can tolerate relatively prolonged seizures without suffering massive cell death, but severe seizures in experimental animals inhibit brain growth, modify neuronal circuits, and can lead to behavioral deficits and to increases in neuronal excitability. Past infancy, the developing brain is characterized by high metabolic rate, exuberant neuronal and synaptic networks and overexpression of receptors and enzymes involved in excitotxic mechanisms...

INTRODUCTION: A wide range of conditions are due to alterations in neurone migration (ANM). Mental retardation, motor disorders and epilepsy are seen in all these disorders. Anomalies included with the ANM are those produced at the time of neuronal migration in the phase prior to neurone proliferation and during the time following cortical organization. All these have a common characteristic, namely an anomalous cerebral cortex (cerebral dysplasias). DEVELOPMENT: There is a high incidence of epilepsy in ANM (60%), appearing early (10% neonatal, 42% before 1 year old)...

A dissociation between clinical and electroencephalographic phenomena is often observable in neonatal seizures. This finding raises important questions, including those related to the management of these patients. Another characteristic of neonatal convulsions is represented by their increased tendency towards status epilepticus. In order to examine the electroclinical correlation and its possible relationship to the occurrence of status epilepticus, recorded video-electroencephalograms of 17 newborns were submitted to detailed analysis...

OBJECTIVE: To study the epidemiology of pyridoxine dependent seizures and other forms of pyridoxine responsive seizures. DESIGN: Monthly notifications to the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit over two years. Questionnaire follow up. SETTING: UK and the Republic of Ireland. PATIENTS: Children aged 15 years or younger whose seizures respond to pyridoxine. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Numbers of children with definite, probable, and possible pyridoxine dependent seizures or other seizures responsive to pyridoxine...

Seizures in the neonate are often considered a form of status epilepticus (SE) because they are relatively prolonged, difficult to control with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), and may be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite their clinical importance, there is still no clear understanding of how seizures may affect the developing brain. Although both basic neuroscience and clinical research have addressed these issues, there are difficulties in the design and analysis of each type of investigation...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the burden of illness of childhood epilepsy on patient, care giver, and society, representative incidence cohorts must be followed longitudinally. Case ascertainment through pediatricians and neurologists would be a valid method if family physicians refered all new cases of childhood epilepsy. The study objective was to determine whether family physicians' referral patterns in Southwestern Ontario make it possible to conduct a population-based incidence study of childhood epilepsy by sampling only from specialists' practices...

Epilepsy occurs in 15-60% of children with cerebral palsy; however, its clinical course is not well defined. This retrospective study reviewed the prevalence, nature, and prognosis of epilepsy in cerebral palsy. Thirty-two of 85 children with cerebral palsy seen in the Neurodevelopmental Clinic in Tuen Mun Hospital between 1990 and 1995 had epilepsy. A control group of 59 epileptic children with normal neurodevelopment status was seen during the same period. Epilepsy most commonly affected patients with spastic tetraplegia and those with mental subnormality...

This study analyzes the relative frequency and age of onset of the different seizure types in a 20-year cohort of a pediatric neurology outpatient clinic of an urban hospital that serves the majority of the city's population (Tel Aviv Medical Center). Only patients with two or more unprovoked seizures were included. Neonatal seizures were excluded from the analysis. The different seizure types in descending order of frequency were: partial seizures secondarily generalized (20.6%), complex partial seizures (12...

This study is a review of the literature on the influence of epilepsy and antiepileptic medication on the course of pregnancy and the foetus, as well as of the effect of pregnancy on the disease. Antiepileptic treatment is supposedly responsible for the increased rate of abnormal bleeding after delivery. Data on the perinatal mortality of epileptics are conflicting. The offspring of epileptic women are often smaller than normal neonates, indicating retarded growth, and the incidence of malformations is 1.25 times higher...

Between 3700 and 3900 children are admitted annually to this children's hospital. During the past four years a total of 455 children with convulsions were admitted for investigation. 255 of these cases were calcified as epilepsy, 202 as febrile convulsions and 28 as neonatal convulsions. A quarter of the epileptic children showed fits of the petit mal type. There were only 5 cases of infantile propulsive petit mal. High frequency of fits and, in particular, status epilepticus, were very rarely seen in the present study...