title: Epidemiology of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.
abstract: Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is a widely recognized presumed genetic, electroclinical idiopathic generalized epilepsy syndrome. The prevalence of JME in large cohorts has been estimated to be 5% to 10% of all epilepsies and around 18% of idiopathic generalized epilepsies but may be lower in some settings. There is a marked female predominance. However, some of the basic epidemiology of JME is not well known, possibly because the syndrome is not sharply defined. A questionnaire study about the diagnostic criteria for JME suggests that diagnosis of JME can be made with the history of myoclonus plus a single generalized tonic-clonic seizure plus generalized fast spike-waves or polyspike-waves on the EEG. However, until these diagnostic criteria are fully accepted, the detailed epidemiology of JME will remain imprecise.
authors.affiliation: Dalhousie University and IWK Health Care Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. camfield@dal.ca
authors.forename: Carol S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Camfield
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Striano
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Camfield
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D020190:Myoclonic Epilepsy, Juvenile / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors