October 22, 2019

Predicting Risk of Lifelong Seizures in Individuals with Sleep-Related Hypermotor Epilepsy

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Sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy (SHE) is characterized by hyperkinetic seizures arising from sleep. Awake seizures occasionally occur and are associated with a worse prognosis, with important implications for driving and quality of life.

This study evaluated the clinical features and sleep/wakefulness distribution of seizures at onset and lifelong in a large cohort of clinical/confirmed SHE.

The distribution of sleep/awake seizures at onset was confirmed as an independent risk factor of awake seizures lifelong (odds ratio = 56.7). Patients presenting with awake seizures have a 94% probability of awake seizures lifelong, whereas in those presenting with asleep seizures only, the percentage lowers to 27%. This aspect should be mentioned during physician-to-patient communication about prognosis.

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