title: Outcome in subjects with alcohol-provoked seizures.
abstract: The outcome in 165 subjects with either an unknown (n = 93) or an alcohol-related (n = 72) seizure etiology, admitted to the emergency room of a general hospital in 1977-1978, was assessed after 10 years on the basis of subsequent hospital records and death-certificate-based mortality data. Alcohol and/or drug poisoning was the most frequent cause of death in the group with alcohol-related seizures. Sixty-four percent of the deaths in this group were directly related to alcohol abuse. The crude mortality was 45.8 (expected 8.6)/100 persons/10 years in the group with alcohol-related seizures and 15.1 (expected 6.0)/100 persons/10 years in the other group, the odds ratio between the groups being 4.8. Twenty percent of those with an unknown seizure etiology were found to show alcohol-related seizures, while the seizure etiology remained unknown in 59%, and a specific etiology other than alcohol abuse was revealed in 21% during the follow-up period. We conclude that alcohol abuse is an important, though often undetected, seizure etiology carrying a poor prognosis. The difference in mortality between the groups was due more to alcoholism than to seizures. There was no difference in mortality between those with a first alcohol-related seizure and those with previous alcohol-related seizures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: I P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Pieninkeroinen
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Telakivi
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hillbom
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000430:Alcohol Withdrawal Delirium / Q000401:mortality*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality / Q000534:rehabilitation; D002423:Cause of Death; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000401:mortality*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012640:Seizures / Q000401:mortality*
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol