Status epilepticus in children: causes, clinical features and short-term outcome.
BACKGROUND
We aimed to evaluate the cause, clinical profile, and short-term outcome of status epilepticus cases that were admitted to our pediatric emergency unit between 1 January and 31 December 2008.


METHODS
We studied the clinical features of 59 seizures that occurred in 56 patients aged between 3 months and 15 years with the diagnosis of status epilepticus. We observed the clinical course and outcome of 53 cases for 6 to 18 months. The correlation between the cause of the seizure and the patient's age at the time of status epilepticus was evaluated as well as the correlation between the risk of seizure recurrence and family history of seizure, the neurological status of the patient prior to seizure and the presence of epilepsy.


RESULTS
The most common cause of status epilepticus is febrile illness in children younger than 2 years and idiopathic/cryptogenic and remote symptomatic causes in children older than 2 years. The rate of recurrence of seizure was significantly higher in cases with existing neurological abnormalities, prior epilepsy and seizures with remote symptomatic causes. The most common triggering factors of status epilepticus development in cases with epilepsy were noncompliance for anti-epileptic drugs and infectious fever.


CONCLUSIONS
In our study, the risk factors for seizure recurrence were the presence of prior epilepsy, existence of neurological abnormalities and remote symptomatic causes. We argue that improving the compliance of patients and their families to take medicine appropriately and training them in how to cope with febrile illnesses may decrease the recurrence of seizures.
Besli
Gulser Esen
GE
Department of Pediatrics, Istanbul Goztepe Training and Research Hospital, Ministry of Health, Istanbul, Turkey. esenbesli@yahoo.com
Saltik
Sema
S
Erguven
Muferet
M
Bulut
Ozgul
O
Abul
Mehtap Haktanir
MH
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013226:Status Epilepticus / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey
D000927:Anticonvulsants