Functional neurological deficit increased the risk of death in childhood epilepsy
QUESTION: What are the risk factors for, and frequency of, all cause mortality in children with epilepsy?
Design
Inception cohort of children who developed epilepsy between 1977 and 1985 and were followed up for ≤22.5 years.
Setting
Nova Scotia, Canada.
Patients
692 children (50% girls) who developed epilepsy (first 2 unprovoked seizures) between 1977 and 1985 (age range 28 d to 16 y). Exclusion criteria included provoking factors for seizures and evidence of progressive neurological disease.
Assessment of prognostic factors
In 1999, names and birth dates of the cohort were linked to the Nova Scotia provincial death and marriage registries (Division of Vital Statistics). For women >15 years of age, the marriage registry was checked to ascertain whether the names had been changed by marriage, and the marriage name was also checked against the death registry. Death certificates, necropsy reports, and physician records of children who had died were examined, and families were contacted to verify if sudden …
