Etiological prevalence of epilepsy and epileptic seizures in hospitalized elderly in a Brazilian tertiary center - Salvador - Brazil.
Epilepsy in the elderly has high incidence and prevalence and is often underecognized.


OBJECTIVE
To describe etiological prevalence of epilepsy and epileptic seizures in elderly inpatients.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis was performed on elderly patients who had epilepsy or epileptic seizures during hospitalization, from January 2009 to December 2010. One hundred and twenty patients were enrolled. They were divided into two age subgroups (median 75 years) with the purpose to compare etiologies.


RESULTS
The most common etiology was ischemic stroke (36.7%), followed by neoplasias (13.3%), hemorrhagic stroke (11.7%), dementias (11.4%) and metabolic disturbances (5.5%). The analysis of etiological association showed that ischemic stroke was predominant in the younger subgroup (45% vs 30%), and dementias in the older one (18.9% vs 3.8%), but with no statistical significance (p = 0.23).


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that epilepsy and epileptic seizures in the elderly inpatients have etiological association with stroke, neoplasias and dementias.
Departamento de Neurologia, Hospital São Rafael, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
Telma Rocha de
TR
Assis
Departamento de Neurologia, Hospital São Rafael, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
Aroldo
A
Bacellar
Departamento de Neurologia, Hospital São Rafael, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
Gersonita
G
Costa
Departamento de Neurologia, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Osvaldo J M
OJ
Nascimento
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data