Etiology of seizures in children

Abstract

Introduction. Seizures in children are the most common neurological manifestations. 0,5-1% of children in the USA and Europe have occasional seizures, caused by metabolic or neurological disorders, more commonly in the neonatal period. In the Republic of Moldova, the incidence of neonatal seizures varies from 0,2-2,7 per 1000 live births and 57,5-132 per 1000 preterm infants.Aim of the study. Studying the multi-factorial etiology of seizures in children, in order to highlight the most common causes that lead to their onset. Analyse the particularities of the complaints, according to the cause, the age of the child, the severity in order to highlight the most common ones, to find what is common in these patients. Materials and methods. The study includes 100 randomly selected patients admitted to the pediatric neurology department of the IMSP ICM (Public Medical Sanitary Institution Scientific Research Institute of Mother and Child Health Care) during the years 2017-2018. 39 girls and 61 boys aged 0-18 were analyzed. The research was based on the clinical examination of the patients and on the results of laboratory and instrumental investigations. Results. Seizures were distributed by age as follows: 55% in children up to 3 years old, followed by a decrease in frequency up to 18 years, given that in the first years of life the immune system is immature, thus children are more susceptible to infections. In the study group, more frequent fever seizures occurred in the case of intercurrent illnesses (Acute viral respiratory infection, pneumonia-87,5% in children with chest X-ray). Among the complaints at hospitalization were: 18%- headache, 17%- tonic-clonic seizures, 11%-dizziness. Doppler ultrasound of the master vessels was performed at 13%, of which 69,2% were modified: 33,34% venous congestion and 22,22% was due to the slightly diminished flow on the right vertebral artery. CT was performed in 20% of children with changes in 45%, of which 28,57% is hydrocephalus, due to head trauma, brain malformations, meningitis or other infections in the brain. The electroencephalogram was performed in 87%, in 57,5% changes were detected, of which 33,37%- moderate changes in the brain's bioelectrical activity, and in 17,5%- isolated epileptiform K-complexes. Conclusions. Sezures in children are a medical emergency. Following the study, I can say that 29% of children had seizures due to TORCH, bacterial, viral infections, 21%- due to hypoxicischemic and hypoxic-traumatic encephalopathy, 9%-metabolic causes, 2%- cerebral abnormalities, and the rest 39%- other causes.