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Background: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a parent-completed questionnaire for detecting seizures in high-risk children. Methods: A 2-part seizure screen for children up to 12 years of age with suspected autism spectrum disorder, developmental delay, or seizure, was implemented in 12 Massachusetts clinics serving populations with high health disparities. Primary care providers and developmental behavioral pediatricians administered part 1, a brief highly sensitive screen. If the result was positive, a research assistant administered part 2, a more detailed screen with higher specificity. Positive part 2 results prompted a specialized assessment by a pediatric neurologist. Screening data were evaluated for detection of seizures or other diagnoses, reason for conducting the screen, and appointment outcomes. Data analysis included chi-squared tests, percentages for categorical variables, and means for numerical data. Results: Of 207 administered seizure questionnaires, 78% of children screened positive on part 1. Of those, 94% of families completed part 2 by telephone, and 64 individuals screened positive. The screen helped to detect 15 new seizure diagnoses and 35 other neurologic diagnoses. Average time to first scheduled appointment was 23.8 days. The no-show rate was 7%. Conclusions: The seizure questionnaire effectively identified seizures and other disorders in a diverse population of high-risk children. Broader use of this low-cost screening tool could improve access to care for children with suspected seizures, increase seizure recognition, and help allocate resources more effectively.

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Background: We developed and validated a Spanish seizure screen for children based on a previously validated English seizure screen that could be administered by a trained research assistant in a 2-step process, approximating the clinical diagnostic process of a pediatric epilepsy specialist. This questionnaire was designed to study seizure prevalence in a research population of children at risk for epilepsy. Methods: Spanish-speaking parents of children 6 months to 17 years old were recruited from the pediatric neurology clinics at Boston Medical Center and interviewed using a computerized questionnaire. A computerized algorithm of parent responses rendered a seizure classification of positive or negative. Blinded to questionnaire results, pediatric neurologists served as the diagnostic gold standard, ranking each patient event using a 4-level scale based on clinical history and examination: (1) not likely, (2) indeterminate, (3) probable, and (4) almost certain where rankings of 3 or 4 lead to a diagnosis of seizure. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 163 enrolled parents. The seizure screen demonstrated a 94.2% sensitivity and 93.7% specificity for identifying seizures. The positive predictive value was 87.5%, and the negative predictive value was 97.2%. Conclusions: This pediatric seizure questionnaire was both sensitive and specific for detecting clinically confirmed seizures. This tool may be useful to clinicians and researchers in screening large populations of children, decreasing the time and cost of added neurologic assessments.