title: Focal cortical dysplasia is more common in boys than in girls.
abstract: Genetics and environment likely contribute to the development of medically intractable epilepsy; however, in most patients the specific combination of etiologies remains unknown. Here, we undertook a multicenter retrospective cohort study of sex distribution in pediatric patients undergoing epilepsy surgery and carried out a secondary analysis of the same population subdivided by histopathologic diagnosis. In the multicenter cohort of patients with intractable epilepsy undergoing surgery regardless of etiology (n=206), 63% were boys, which is significantly more boys than expected for the general population (Fisher exact two-tailed p=0.017). Subgroup analysis found that of the 90 patients with a histopathologic diagnosis of focal cortical dysplasia, 72% were boys, giving an odds ratio (OR) of 2.5 (95% CI, 1.34 to 4.62) for male sex. None of the other etiologies had a male sex predominance. Future studies could examine the biological relevance and potential genetic and pathophysiological mechanisms of this observation.
authors: Department of Pediatrics and Neurology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors: Xilma R
authors: XR
authors: Ortiz-González
authors: Annapurna
authors: A
authors: Poduri
authors: Colin M
authors: CM
authors: Roberts
authors: Joseph E
authors: JE
authors: Sullivan
authors: Eric D
authors: ED
authors: Marsh
authors: Brenda E
authors: BE
authors: Porter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D054220:Malformations of Cortical Development / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012727:Sex Characteristics