Does physical exercise influence the occurrence of epileptiform EEG discharges in children?
OBJECTIVE
To determine if, and how, epileptiform EEG discharges in children were influenced by physical exercise.


METHODS
Twenty-six children with intractable partial and generalized epilepsy exercised during video-telemetry recording, aiming at exhaustion after approximately 10 min.


RESULTS
During the exercise, epileptiform discharges decreased in 20 of 26 children (17 children had at least 25% reduction) and showed a rebound increase after the exercise (17 of 26 children) compared to baseline conditions. This exercise-induced reduction in epileptiform discharges reached statistical significance only in the 16 patients with localization-related epilepsy. Five patients showed an atypical EEG response to exercise with either unchanged or increased epileptiform activity while exercising. As compared to the other patients, these 5 children had experienced frequent clinical seizures during or immediately after exercise in their leisure time.


CONCLUSIONS
In the majority of the tested children, epileptiform EEG discharges decreased during exercise. "Exercise-EEG" may be a helpful diagnostic tool to identify patients who are disposed to have exercise-induced seizures.
Nakken
K O
KO
The National Center for Epilepsy, Sandvika, Norway.
Løyning
A
A
Løyning
T
T
Gløersen
G
G
Larsson
P G
PG
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors