title: Duchenne muscular dystrophy and epilepsy.
abstract: Cognitive and behavioral difficulties occur in approximately a third of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of epilepsy in a cohort of 222 DMD patients. Epileptic seizures were found in 14 of the 222 DMD patients (6.3%). The age of onset ranged from 3 months to 16 years (mean 7.8). Seizures were more often focal epilepsy (n=6), generalized tonic-clonic seizures (n=4) or absences (n=4). They were present in 12 of the 149 boys with normal IQ (8.1%) and in two of the 73 with mental retardation (2.7%). In two cases the parents did not report any past or present history of seizures but only 'staring episodes' interpreted as a sign of 'poor attention'. In both patients EEG showed the typical pattern observed in childhood absence epilepsy. Our results suggest that the prevalence of epilepsy in our study (6.3%) is higher than in the general pediatric population (0.5-1%). The risk of epilepsy does not appear to increase in patients with mental retardation.
authors: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Catholic University, Rome, Italy.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Pane
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Messina
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Bruno
authors: A
authors: A
authors: D'Amico
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Villanova
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Brancalion
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Sivo
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Bianco
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Striano
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Battaglia
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Lettori
authors: G L
authors: GL
authors: Vita
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Bertini
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Gualandi
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Ricotti
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Ferlini
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Mercuri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000453:epidemiology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004832:Epilepsy, Absence / Q000453:epidemiology; D004830:Epilepsy, Tonic-Clonic / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult