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Long‐term outcome in epilepsy with grand mal on awakening: Forty years of follow‐up
Author(s) -
Holtkamp Martin,
Kowski Alexander B.,
Merkle Hannah,
Janz Dieter
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.24103
Subject(s) - epilepsy , antiepileptic drug , odds ratio , medicine , confidence interval , grand mal , pediatrics , retrospective cohort study , psychiatry
Epilepsy with grand mal on awakening (EGMA) is a well‐defined subtype of idiopathic generalized epilepsy. Patients with follow‐up of at least 20 years were assessed retrospectively regarding 5‐year terminal seizure remission. Forty‐two patients were included (mean age = 60 ± 13 years). After follow‐up of 40 ± 13 years, 26 patients (62%) were in remission, 5 without antiepileptic drugs. Age at investigation (odds ratio = 0.939, 95% confidence interval = 0.887–0.994, p = 0.029) independently predicted lacking remission. Nineteen patients (45.2%) had withdrawn from antiepileptic drugs at least once; 12 of those (63.2%) had seizure relapse. EGMA has a favorable long‐term prognosis. With increasing age and treatment duration, antiepileptic drug withdrawal may be justified. Ann Neurol 2014;75:298–302