Epilepsy in remission: study of prevalence and clinicoepidemiological profile
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34024/rnc.2007.v15.10294Keywords:
Epilepsy, Remission Spontaneous, Epidemiological ProfileAbstract
Objective. It is to establish the prevalence and the epidemiological profile of epileptic patients in remission. Method. The study involved 29 patients over 15 years old with epilepsy in remission registered at Ofir Loyola Hospital, from September/2004 to September/2005, in order to determine the features of patients in this condition, such as gender, epileptic etiology, type of seizure, age of the first seizure, lost time, treatment duration, period of time without seizures, monotherapy or polytherapy treatment, antiepileptic drug utilized, and electroencephalographic findings. The data were analyzed by the Chi-Square test. Results. The results showed that 14.21% of the patients were in remission. Most of them were men (55.17%), from 15 to 29 years old (58.62%), with idiopathic epilepsy (72.41%) and tonic-clonic seizures (46.88%), treated with one drug therapy (79.31%), mainly carbamazepine (44.83%). The electroencephalography findings were normal in the majority of the patients (48.28%). The age of the first seizure, lost time, period of time without seizures, and treatment duration were respectively, 10-19 years (62.07%); 0-2 years (65.52%); 3-4 years (37.93%); and 4-6 years (37.93%). Conclusion. The prevalence of patients in remission was low, being more frequent in young adults with idiopathic epilepsy.
Metrics
References
2. Fernandes JG, Schmidt MI, Monte TL, Tozzi S, Sander JWAS. Prevalence of Epilepsy: The Porto Alegre Study. Epilepsia 1992;33(3):132.
3. Epilepsy: aetiogy, epidemiology and prognosis (Endereço na Internet). Suíça: World Health Organization (última atualização 02/2001, citado em 02/2006). Disponível em: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/ factsheets/fs165/en/
4. Guerreiro CAM, Guerreiro MM, Cendes F, Lopes-Cendes I. Considerações gerais. In: Guerreiro CAM, Guerreiro MM, Cendes F, LopesCendes I. Epilepsia. São Paulo: Lemos Editorial, 2000, p1-10.
5. ILAE. Comission on classification and terminology of international league against epilepsy: proposal of revised classification of the epilepsies and epileptic syndromes. Epilepsia 1989;30(5):389-399.
6. Betting LE, Kobayashi E, Montenegro MA, Min LL, Cendes F, Guerreiro MM, et al. Tratamento de epilepsia: consenso dos especialistas brasileiros. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2003;61(4):1045-1070.
7. Elwes RD, Johson AL, Shorvon SD, Reynolds EH. The prognosis for seizure control in newly diagnosed epilepsy. N Engl J Med 1984;311(1):944-947.
8. Padró L, Rovira L. Supresión del tratamiento antiepiléptico en la edad adulta. Rev Neurol 1999;30(4):355-359.
9. Guerreiro AM, Azoubel ACSG, Cardoso TMO. Freqüência de crises em diferentes ambulatórios de epilepsia. JLBE 1994;7(2):57-60.
10. Goddard DV. Development of epileptic seizures though brain stimulation at low intensity. Nature 1997;214:1020-1021.
11. Annegers JF, Hauser WA, Elveback LR. Remisson of seizures and relapse in patients with epilepsy. Epilepsia 1979;20:729-737.
12. Gram L, Sabers A. Treatment of pacients with epilepsy in remission. In: Shorvon SD, Dreifuss F, Fish D, Thomas D. The treatment of epilepsy. 3ed. London: Blackwell Science, 1996, 197p.
13. Cockerell OC, Johnson AL, Sander JWAS, Shorvon SD. Prognosis of epilepsy: a review and further analysis of the first nine years of the British national general practice study of epilepsy, a prospective population-based study. Epilepsia 1997;38(1):31-46.
14. Callaghan N, Garret A, Coggin T. Withdrawal of anticonvulsant drugs in patients free of seizures for 2 years. N Engl J Med 1988:318:942-946.
