EPILEPSY IN THE 1ST 10 YEARS OF LIFE - FINDINGS OF THE CHILD HEALTH AND EDUCATION STUDY

Objectives-To identify children with afebrile seizures in a national cohort, classify the seizures, and document progress in the first 10 years of life. Design-Population based birth cohort study. Setting-The child health and education study, which includes 16004 neonatal survivors (98.5% of infants born in the United Kingdom during one week of April 1970). Subjects-14676 children for whom relevant information was available. Main outcome measures-Responses to parental and general practitioner questionnaires and hospital records at 5 and 10 years after birth. Results-84 children (42 boys, 42 girls) had had one or more afebrile seizure (incidence 5.7/1000). 63 children (31 boys, 32 girls) had epilepsy (incidence 4.3/1000). 49 of 55 children had a second seizure within a year of the first. The commonest seizure types were tonic-clonic (42) and complex partial (25). A greater proportion of children with complex partial seizures had recurrences. Children who had infantile spasms or a mixed seizure disorder had a poor outcome. All six children who died had symptomatic seizures in the first year, but seizures were not the direct cause of death. Conclusions-The results of this study are probably representative of seizure patterns in the general population. Outcome after seizures is determined more by the underlying disease than by the seizures themselves.