1043-3155 Pediatr Neurol Briefs pedneurbriefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs Pediatric Neurology Briefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs 2166-6482 1043-3155 2166-3155 Pediatric Neurology Briefs Publishers Chicago, IL, USA PNB-6-72 10.15844/pedneurbriefs-6-9-12 Seizure Disorders Neurology Pediatrics Nervous System Diseases Child Development Brain Diseases Neurosurgery Child Infant Discontinuing Medication: Recurrence Risk Factors http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0173-7931 Millichap J. Gordon MD 1 2 * Division of Neurology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL Correspondence: Dr. J. Gordon Millichap, E-mail: jgmillichap@northwestern.edu 09 1992 01 07 2016 6 9 72 72 Copyright: © 1992 The Author(s) 1992 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Discontinuing medication in epileptic children: a study of risk factors related to recurrence

The results of antiepileptic drug discontinuation in epileptic children who were seizure free for at least 2 years are reported from the Services of Child Neurology and Psychology, Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

 Mental Retardation Mixed Seizure Pattern Antiepileptic Medications

The results of antiepileptic drug discontinuation in epileptic children who were seizure free for at least 2 years are reported from the Services of Child Neurology and Psychology, Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Twenty children (28%) had a recurrence, 75% during discontinuation or less than 6 months after discontinuation of AED. The risk factors related to seizure recurrence were 1) more than 10 seizures before seizure control, 2) abnormal EEG in the year before discontinuation, 3) focal neurologic signs and/or mental retardation, and 4) a mixed seizure pattern. Two or more risk factors were associated with recurrence of seizures in 14 children (70%), whereas patients with none or only 1 risk factor had no recurrence (72%). [1]

COMMENT. Risk factors may be of help in determining the safety of discontinuing antiepileptic medications in children who are seizure free for a period of at least 2 years. There was no correlation between age at seizure onset and recurrence in this study, which is at variance with some other reports.

A finding of a higher sleep tendency in children with epilepsy than in controls, even 4-5 months after drug discontinuation, was unexpected in a study from the University of Lund, Sweden [2]. A long time had passed since the last reported seizure and the EEG was free of epilepti-form activity in most cases, so that the sleepiness could not be a direct effect of epileptic seizures.

 Gherpelli JLD Kok F dal Forno S Elkis LC Lefevre BH Diament AJ Discontinuing medication in epileptic children: a study of risk factors related to recurrence Epilepsia 1992 Jul-Aug 33 4 681 686 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1992.tb02347.x 1628584 Palm L Anderson H Elmqvist D Blennow G Daytime sleep tendency before and after discontinuation of antiepileptic drugs in preadolescent children with epilepsy Epilepsia 1992 Jul-Aug 33 4 687 691 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1992.tb02348.x 1628585