The Epidemiology and Etiology of Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures of Hospitalized Patients in LTM Ward of Tabriz Razi Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Seizure is one of the medical emergencies that is more common in children than in adults. Its occurrence varies in different societies, depending on the prevalence of the underlying factors and its definition. In adults, it is estimated to be between 2 and 4 per 100,000, but in children it is a much higher figure, and about 17 to 23 per 100,000 children per year. The aim of this study was to determine the Epidemiology and Etiology Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures of Hospitalized Patients in LTM Ward of Tabriz Razi Hospital. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study, form 247 patients referred to Razi Hospital, 55 patients who have been diagnosed with the disease as necessary under LTM have been studied. Information about all patients who were enrolled from June 2015 to June 2017 were registered. Early patient information includes demographic information (age, sex, location, educational level); previous medical history information (previous seizure diagnosis and duration, drug use, drug addiction, comorbidities, ongoing medications, and family history of medical records). Information on the current disease (type of seizure, duration of the disease, medications used for it, and response therapies) and post-hospitalization information (electroencephalographic reports, clinical manifestations, involuntary movements, disturbances of consciousness, or behavioral and emotional changes) Was collected as a questionnaire. Results: 47 patients (85.5%) had history of seizure symptoms in terms of history of non-epileptic seizure symptoms. Mean ± SD The duration of symptoms was 4.09 ± 3.83 years with a median of 4 years. The minimum duration of symptoms was 1 year and the maximum time was 20 years. In the study of the frequency of non-epileptic psychotic seizure symptoms in the sex groups, the most frequent symptoms were female with a frequency of 26 cases (47.27%). No significant difference was observed (p=0.113). In the study of the frequency of non-epileptic psychotic seizure symptoms in the different age groups, the highest frequency of symptoms was observed in the age group of 30-40 years with an incidence of 15 (27.3%). There was no significant difference between different age groups (p=0.708). Conclusion: The highest frequency of non-epileptic psychogenic seizure is in two age ranges of 30-40 years and 10-20 years. One of the most important risk factors involved in this type of epilepsy is depression and headache. Compared to epileptic epilepsy, using EEG with video monitoring, this type of seizure can be distinguished with high precision from other types of seizures.