A low Apgar score at 5 minutes, neonatal seizures, focal-onset epilepsy, and focal slowing on electroencephalogram (EEG) are risk factor variables that cumulatively form an accurate model for predicting the risk for drug-resistant epilepsy in children with cerebral palsy. This is according to results of a study in the Journal of Child Neurology.
The study was a single-center, observational, retrospective chart review of 118 children with cerebral palsy and either drug-resistant epilepsy (n = 52) or controlled epilepsy (n = 66). Several clinical variables and patient characteristics were analyzed regarding their association and the incidence of drug-resistant epilepsy.
According to the investigators, this study may assist healthcare practitioners to “complete a clinical picture of ‘high-risk epilepsy’ and thereby further assist in the consideration of alternative therapeutic avenues in reaching the goal of reducing the burden of poor seizure control in children with cerebral palsy.”