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Etiologies and outcomes of status epilepticus in children

2005; Elsevier BV; Volume: 7; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.yebeh.2005.07.005

1525-5069

Ali A. Asadi‐Pooya, Alie Poordast,

Hemoglobinopathies and Related Disorders

Purpose Status epilepticus (SE) is a medical emergency with significant associated mortality and morbidity. This study was conducted to determine the etiology and outcome of SE in children. Methods All patients from 1 month to 15 years old with SE admitted to Nemazee Hospital, Shiraz, Iran, the main pediatric hospital in the area, between 1999 and 2004, were studied in a retrospective cross-sectional study. Outcomes were rated according to the Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS). Results In all, 135 patients (76 boys, 59 girls) were studied. The most common cause of SE was fever. Etiology of SE did not differ significantly between various age groups and also between boys and girls (P = 0.736 and P = 0.156, respectively). Fourteen patients died in hospital and 81 were discharged in good health. Outcome did not differ significantly between the age groups (P = 0.695) or between boys and girls (P = 0.386). When classified as good (GOS = 5) and bad (GOS = 1–4), outcome was significantly correlated with etiology of SE (P = 0.017). Prolonged febrile seizures had the best, and symptomatic SE the worst, outcome. Discussion In this study, even in children above 3 years of age, fever was the most common cause of SE. This is noteworthy and heralds the need to pay more attention to febrile seizures, especially in children at risk for their occurrence. Outcome was not related to age and sex, but etiology of SE significantly influenced outcome.