Objective The aim of this study is to examine the profile and pattern of injuries in children with epilepsy (CWE) as compared with healthy controls.

Methods This prospective, cross-sectional study conducted over 1 year in a tertiary care pediatric center included consecutive CWE aged 4 to 16 years who had active seizures during the preceding 1 year. A similar number of age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled. Children with acute symptomatic seizures or degenerative neurologic disorders were excluded. Standardized scales were used to assess intelligent quotient, psychopathology, seizure severity, and restriction of daily activities.

Results Two hundred and eight CWE (mean age: 107 ± 37months; range: 3.5–16 years) and an equal number of healthy controls (mean age: 108 ± 43 months; range: 3.5–16 years; p = 0.07) were evaluated. The majority of CWE had generalized epilepsy (n = 117, 59.6%) followed by focal epilepsy (n = 84, 40.3%). The mean duration of epilepsy was 47.4 ± 36.3 months. The prevalence of injury was significantly greater in CWE (n = 118/208, 56.7%) compared with controls (n = 56/208, 26.9%; p < 0.001). CWE suffered significantly greater number of 293 injuries in the past 1 year in contrast to 83 injuries in controls (p < 0.001). In CWE, the majority of injuries were unrelated to seizures (n = 85/118, 72%, 211 injuries), while only one-third (n = 33/118, 27.9%, 82 injuries) suffered seizure-related injuries. The incidence of injures unrelated to seizures and that of seizure-related injuries were similar (2.48 seizure-related injuries per person per year). Among CWE, a comparison of the injury versus noninjury group showed a significantly longer duration of epilepsy (53 ± 34 vs. 40 ± 38 months, p < 0.007), higher prevalence of underlying structural etiology in generalized epilepsy (34.7 vs. 13.3%, p < 0.001), higher mean seizure severity and restriction of daily activity scores, and higher prevalence of hyperactivity (36.4 vs. 18.9%, p = 0.006) and intellectual disability (35.6 vs. 10%, p < 0.001) in the injury group. Injuries on the head, face, and upper limb were significantly more in CWE as compared with controls, and tongue injuries were found only in CWE (p =< 0.05), and were seen significantly more as seizure-related injury (n = 7 vs. 1, p < 0.001) compared with non-seizure-related injuries. The majority of injuries in children with CWE and controls were mild in nature (n = 112, 53.8% vs. n = 54, 26%; p < 0.001).

Conclusions The prevalence of injuries among CWE aged between 4 and 16 years is high and is significantly greater than in healthy controls, although the majority of injuries are mild in severity in both and are non-seizure-related injuries. Longer duration of epilepsy, higher seizure severity, and restriction of daily activities, and higher prevalence of underlying structural etiology, hyperactivity, and intellectual disability are associated with injuries in CWE.

Article published online:
24 October 2024

© 2024. Indian Epilepsy Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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