A Clinical Study on the Causes of Childhood Seizures According to the Age

Kim, Dong Wook

Abstract

PURPOSE
Although it is important to know the causes of childhood seizures according to the age, the clinical studies on this topic are rare in Korea. So, I would like to perform this clinical study to evaluate the frequencies of the age-related seizure causes in children.
METHODS
This study was retrospectively undertaken to evaluate the age and sex distribution, the clinical seizure types, the seizure causes, and especially the frequencies of the age-related seizure causes of 514 children under 15 years of age with seizures, who were diagnosed at Gyeongsang National University Hospital during 4 years from March 1990 to February 1994.
RESULTS
Male to female ratio was 1.6:1 and the range of age was from 1 day to 14 years 8 months. There were 432 cases(84.0%) with generalized seizure types, 46(8.9%) with partial seizure types, and 36 with unknown clinical seizure types. The causes of seizures were listed as follows; febrile convulsions in 321 cases(62.5%), epilepsies in 90(17.5%), acute central nervous system infections in 23(4.5%), hypoxic ischemic encephalopathies in 16(3.1%), metabolic derangements in 10(1.9%), and intracranial hemorrhages in 6(1.2%). Finally, the frequencies of the age-related seizure causes were analyzed. Out of 46 cases under 3 months of age, 16 cases(34.8%) were hypoxic ischemic encephalopathies, 6(13.0%) metabolic derangements, and 4(8.7%) intracranial hemorrhages. Out of 375 cases between 3 months and 5 years of age, 291 cases(77.6%) were febrile convulsions, 33(8.8%) epilepsies, and 16(4.3%) acute central nervous system infections. Out of 93 cases between 5 and 15 years of age, 53 cases(57.0%) were epilepsies, 29(31.2%) febrile convulsions, and 4(4.3%) acute central nervous system infections.
CONCLUSIONS
Above results reveal that the causes of childhood seizures in the differnt age groups are different and also suggest that hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is the most common seizure cause under 3 month of age , febrile convulsion between 3 month and 5 years of age, and epilepsy between 5 and 15 years of age. I hope that the further developed clinical and epidemiologic studies on this topic will be performed in Korea.