We postulate that the lower HRV in our patients results from parasympathetic or vagal reduction. This suggests that decreased HRV in epileptic children occurs by a different mechanism than in adults with epilepsy.

Patients with FLE have interictally faster heart rates, attributed to lower parasympathetic drive, which may contribute to the higher incidence of sudden death that is seen in this group of patients. This suggests that the mechanism of decreased HRV in patients with FLE is probably different from that in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

No abstract