New Onset Acute Symptomatic Seizure and Risk Factors in Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Retrospective Multicenter Study

Overview

Journal Epilepsia

Specialty Neurology

Date 2020 Apr 19

PMID 32304092

Citations 189

Authors

Lu Lu

Weixi Xiong

Dan Liu

Jing Liu

Dan Yang

Nian Li

Jie Mu

Jian Guo

Weimin Li

Gang Wang

Hui Gao

Yingying Zhang

Mintao Lin

Lei Chen

Sisi Shen

Hesheng Zhang

Josemir W Sander

Jianfei Luo

Shengli Chen

Dong Zhou

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Our aim was to clarify the incidence and risk of acute symptomatic seizures in people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This multicenter retrospective study enrolled people with COVID-19 from January 18 to February 18, 2020 at 42 government-designated hospitals in Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic in China; Sichuan province; and Chongqing municipality. Data were collected from medical records by 11 neurologists using a standard case report form. A total of 304 people were enrolled, of whom 108 had a severe condition. None in this cohort had a known history of epilepsy. Neither acute symptomatic seizures nor status epilepticus was observed. Two people had seizurelike symptoms during hospitalization due to acute stress reaction and hypocalcemia, and 84 (27%) had brain insults or metabolic imbalances during the disease course known to increase the risk of seizures. There was no evidence suggesting an additional risk of acute symptomatic seizures in people with COVID-19. Neither the virus nor potential risk factors for seizures seem to be significant risks for the occurrence of acute symptomatic seizures in COVID-19.

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