LOGO
PL

Is there a seasonality and periodic fluctuations in epilepsy?

Dariusz Timler1, Łukasz Szarpak2, Marcin Madziała2

Affiliation and address for correspondence
AKTUALN NEUROL 2012, 12 (3), p. 154–158
Abstract

Introduction: Epilepsy is one of the most common diseases of a nervous system, which often requires emergency treatment, hence the interest of emergency medicine physicians. Aim: Retrospective analysis of medical records from the years 2005–2009 with special emphasis on seasonality and periodic fluctuations in admissions of epilepsy patients to Copernicus Memorial Hospital in Lodz, Poland. Material and methods: Hospital database was searched for age, gender, time and date of admission, duration of hospitalization, type of epilepsy and mortality. Results: Analysis encompassed 2434 patients with epilepsy (982 women, 1452 men), aged 1 month to 97 years (mean age 44.80±19.97 years). Cause of admission was always an epileptic seizure. Onset of attack was mainly in the afternoon (12:00–17:59 – 803 cases, 33%), and from 6:00 a.m. till 11:59 a.m. (775 cases, 32%). Epilepsy-related admissions were most frequent in July (n=233; 10%), January and April (n=228; 9% each month). Conclusions: Onset of epileptic attack was observed most often since 9:00 a.m. thru 10:59 a.m. and in July, possibly indicating seasonality and periodic fluctuations in epilepsy.

Keywords
epilepsy, seasonality, fluctuations, hospitalization, mortality

Oświadczam, że posiadam prawo wykonywania zawodu lekarza i jestem uprawniony do otrzymywania specjalistycznych informacji medycznych. Chcę zapoznać się z informacją z serwisu.