Abstract
Purpose: To describe causes of death in children with difficult to treat epilepsy.
Methode: 3030 children aged 1 month to 18 years were referred to admission or outpatient visit to Dianalund Epilepsy Center from 1/1 99 to 31/8 2008. From the Danish registers it was found that among these children 43 had died (1,42 %). Case records and death certicicates were evaluated.
Results: The largest group were children with a progressive neurometabolic disease (n=10, 23%). In 6 of these cases the cause of death were respiratory and one status epilepticus. 9 cases(21 %) died from SUDEP, autopsy were performed in 5, 4 were normal developed. One child were 2½ year, one 8 year and one 12 year the rest were from 14 to 24 year old. The remaining 24 children died from various reasons: pneumonia (8 cases), abdominal surgical disorders (5 cases), status epilepticus (2 cases) and others. No cases of drowning were found but some cases might have been related to seizures like aspiration or suffocation. All of these 24 children except one had delayed development.
Conclusion: SUDEP in young children is rare even in cases with difficult to treat epilepsy. Children with progressive metabolic disorders was the largest group in this cohorte.
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Uldall, P. 244 Mortality and Causes of Death in Children Referred to a Tertiary Referral Epilepsy Center. Pediatr Res 68 (Suppl 1), 127 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-201011001-00244
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-201011001-00244