Abstract
Objectives
Epidemiologic data concerning idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs) are scarce
or often unreliable. In the current study, we specifically analyzed the syndromes
of IGE based on their demographic, clinical, and EEG findings to determine if other
than the seizure type(s) and age of onset, there are any other distinctive features
to distinguish these syndromes of IGEs from one another.
Materials and methods
In this retrospective study, all patients with a clinical diagnosis of IGE were recruited
at the outpatient epilepsy clinic at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, from 2008
to 2011. Demographic variables and relevant clinical and EEG variables were summarized
descriptively. Statistical analyses were performed using Chi square and Fisher's exact
tests.
Results
2190 patients with epilepsy were registered at our epilepsy clinic and 442 patients
(20.2%) were diagnosed as having IGE. Age of seizure onset was 12±7 years. Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy was the most frequent syndrome, followed by epilepsy
with generalized tonic–clonic seizures only and juvenile absence epilepsy. Epilepsy
risk factors, physical examination, MRI and even EEG could not differentiate various
syndromes of IGE.
Conclusion
The key element in making the correct diagnosis of an IGE syndrome is obtaining a
detailed clinical history. However, other than the seizure type(s) and age of onset,
there are no any other distinctive features to distinguish these syndromes of IGEs
from one another. Besides, sometimes these syndromes have overlapping features.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 12, 2012
Accepted:
October 22,
2012
Received in revised form:
October 18,
2012
Received:
September 23,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
