Multi-Perspective Investigation of Paroxysmal Nonepileptic Events Retrospectively

Multi-Perspective Investigation of Paroxysmal Nonepileptic Events Retrospectively

Background: Non-epileptic paroxysmal events (NEPE) refer to physiological or exaggerated physiological responses caused by parasomnias, movement disorders, behavioral or psychiatric disorders and hemodynamic, respiratory and gastrointestinal dysfunctions. In the present study detailed data were provided on the demographic features of NEPE based on five-years of clinical experience and observation. Materials and Method: The medical records of 200 patients diagnosed with NEPE were investigated retrospectively. The distribution of NEPE was evaluated based on age and sex. Results: Our study demonstrated that 23,5% of patients with NEPE had already been followed with a diagnosis of epilepsy. 34 (45.4%) patients aged 2 months to 4(11/12) years were diagnosed with breath holding spells. PS was the most common diagnosis (32.5%)  in general. The mean age in PS was 11.25 ± 3.42 years. 38 (58.5%) of them were female, and 27 (41.5%) were male. Some 28 (43.1%) PS were diagnosed from the amateur camera images taken by families; 20 (30.1%) were diagnosed from video-EEG monitoring; while the physician witnessed a seizure first-hand in 17 (26.2%) of the patients. Conclusion: The form and frequency of NEPE in children vary with age. PS was the most common diagnosis in accordance with the literature. In contradistinction to previos studies breath holding spell was found to be the most common NEPE in early childhood period for this study population. 

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