CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF BREATH HOLDING SPELLS (BHS)- AN ANALYSIS OF 115 CASES

BACKGROUND Breath holding spells are common in non-epileptic, repetitive, paroxysmal events in young infants and children often considered as seizure mimics/ confused with seizure disorder can be a frightening experience for parents and demands a good history of the sequence of events, because the diagnosis is made clinically. Aims and Objectives- To study the disease spectrum of Breath holding spells in infants and children in terms of clinical and epidemiological profile (i.e. age, sex, family history, parental consanguinity, triggering factors, associated comorbidities such as anaemia etc.). MATERIALS AND METHODS This case series study was conducted in our Child health clinics. A total of 125 children below 6 years with Breath holding spells were enrolled between May 2012 and April 2017, out of which 10 children were excluded from the study due to various causes. Remaining 115 children diagnosed as Breath holding spells by typical history, clinical examination and after ruling out other causes which mimic Breath holding spells are included in the study. RESULTS In the present study, a total of 115 children aged between 6 months and below 6 years were diagnosed as having Breath holding spells. In 73 (63.41%) cases Breath holding spells began during the first 24 months of age. Most common triggering factor being anger (45.2%) and pain (41.7%). A positive family history was found in 27% and parental consanguinity was found in 30.43% of cases. The spells were cyanotic in 62.6% and 76.52% were anaemic. CONCLUSION The result of this study suggests a new data regarding the natural history of Breath holding spells and is important for identifying interventional strategies and parental counselling and could serve as baseline data for future approaches on this paediatric clinical entity.