Laurie M Douglass, Timothy C Heeren, Carl E Stafstrom, William DeBassio, Elizabeth N Allred, Alan Leviton, T Michael O’Shea, Deborah Hirtz, Julie Rollins, Karl Kuban
Pediatr Neurol. 2017 Aug;73:13-19
OBJECTIVE: We evaluated incidence of seizures and epilepsy in first decade of life among children born extremely premature.
RESULTS: By 10 yrs, 12.2% had ≥ 1 seizure, 7.6% had epilepsy, 3.2% had seizure with fever, and 1.3% had a single, unprovoked seizure; incidence increased with ▼GA. In > 75%, seizurs onset was > one year of age. Sz incidence comparable in sexes. ⅔ had other neurological disorders. ⅓ with epilepsy not recorded on questionnaire.
SIGNIFICANCE: Incidence of epilepsy through ten yrs among children born extremely preterm is ~7-14-fold higher than general pediatric pop. Szs under-recognized.