Seasonal Pattern of Epileptic Seizures: A Single-Center Experience

Author Info

A. Verentzioti A. Siatouni A. Alexoudi D. Gkougka Ioanna Alexandratou M. Stefanatou P. Patrikelis S. Efthimiopoulos S. Gatzonis S. Stavrakakis

Corresponding Author

Ioanna Alexandratou
Department of Neurology, Evangelismos Hospital, Athens, Greece

A B S T R A C T

Purpose: To evaluate the seasonal fluctuation of epileptic seizures during one year. Methods: This was a single centre retrospective observational study. Demographic data, number and type of epileptic seizures were collected and analyzed using a dataset from the outpatient epilepsy clinic of a tertiary hospital, during one year. The statistical tools included descriptive statistics, contingency tables, Chi-square of goodness-of-fit tests, and general linear models. Results: In total, 143 consecutive patients were included in the study. Among the patients, 72 were women and 71 men. In total, 1,351 epileptic seizures were recorded during one year. A significantly higher rate of epileptic seizures during spring and summer was revealed. An association between the type of epileptic seizure and the month of the year was recorded. Specifically, focal seizures with impairment of awareness fluctuate throughout the year, with a sudden peak during June. Significance: Epidemiologic data regarding epilepsy seasonality have so far received only limited attention. In our study, a seasonal pattern was recorded on the occurrence of epileptic seizures. Further research combining different weather conditions and environments is needed to fully characterize the seasonality of epilepsy.

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received: Sat 18, Apr 2020
Accepted: Mon 27, Apr 2020
Published: Mon 04, May 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Ioanna Alexandratou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.NNB.2020.02.03