Clinico - aetiological profile of new onset seizures among adult Egyptians

Abstract

Objectives We aimed to evaluate the clinical and etiological profile of new onset seizures in adults with the help of laboratory and neuroimaging studies in a tertiary care hospital in Cairo. Methods An observational hospital based cross sectional analytical study of 120 cases with new onset seizures were included in the study, who had their first seizure above the age of 18, and admitted to Neurology OPCs and ER of Ain Shams University and Nasr city Health Insurance Hospitals between March 2018 to September 2018. We determined the type of seizure and etiological factors. Results In the 120 patients, whose specific incidence of acute new onset seizures was found to be highest in males in the age group > 55 years 48 (66.67 %), we found the most common seizure type was generalized seizure 56 (46.67%) and the most common etiologic factor was cerebrovascular diseases 58 (48.33 %). Patients presented with cluster seizures was 31 (25.83 %) and status epileptics was 14 (11.67 %). The most common metabolic insult was hypocalcemia 12 (10%) and hyponatremia 8 (6.76%). Conclusion Cerebrovascular disease was the most common etiology after 55 years of age whereas Idiopathic epilepsy syndrome and Metabolic insults were common in younger individuals (18-35) years of age. Patients presented with cluster seizures were mostly found to have SOL.