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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2014 Jan 13:14:17.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-14-17.

Mozart K.448 listening decreased seizure recurrence and epileptiform discharges in children with first unprovoked seizures: a randomized controlled study

Lung-Chang Lin, Mei-Wen Lee, Ruey-Chang Wei, Hin-Kiu Mok, Rei-Cheng Yang  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Mozart K.448 listening decreased seizure recurrence and epileptiform discharges in children with first unprovoked seizures: a randomized controlled study

Lung-Chang Lin et al. BMC Complement Altern Med. .

Abstract

Background: Increasing numbers of reports show the beneficial effects of listening to Mozart music in decreasing epileptiform discharges as well as seizure frequency in epileptic children. There has been no effective method to reduce seizure recurrence after the first unprovoked seizure until now. In this study, we investigated the effect of listening to Mozart K.448 in reducing the seizure recurrence rate in children with first unprovoked seizures.

Methods: Forty-eight children who experienced their first unprovoked seizure with epileptiform discharges were included in the study. They were randomly placed into treatment (n = 24) and control (n = 24) groups. Children in the treatment group listened to Mozart K.448 daily before bedtime for at least six months. Two patients in the treatment group were excluded from analysis due to discontinuation intervention. Finally, forty-six patients were analyzed. Most of these patients (89.1%) were idiopathic in etiology. Seizure recurrence rates and reduction of epileptiform discharges were compared.

Results: The average follow-up durations in the treatment and control groups were 18.6 ± 6.6 and 20.1 ± 5.1 months, respectively. The seizure recurrence rate was estimated to be significantly lower in the treatment group than the control group over 24 months (37.2% vs. 76.8%, p = 0.0109). Significant decreases in epileptiform discharges were also observed after 1, 2, and 6 months of listening to Mozart K.448 when compared with EEGs before listening to music. There were no significant differences in gender, mentality, seizure type, and etiology between the recurrence and non-recurrence groups.

Conclusions: Although the case number was limited and control music was not performed in this study, the study revealed that listening to Mozart K.448 reduced the seizure recurrence rate and epileptiform discharges in children with first unprovoked seizures, especially of idiopathic etiology. We believe that Mozart K.448 could be a promising alternative treatment in patients with first unprovoked seizures and abnormal EEGs. Further large-scaled study should be conducted to confirm the effect.

Trial registration: NCT01892605, date: June-19-2013.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The patient recruitment flowchart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The seizure recurrence rates after the first unprovoked seizure between treatment and control groups. The seizure recurrence rate was estimated to be significantly lower in the treatment group than the control group by 24 months (p = 0.0109).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The comparison of reduction of epileptiform discharges in absolute frequency and percentage of reduction between treatment and control groups. There was no significant difference between baseline and follow-up (the interval between baseline and follow-up EEGs ranged from two to seven months) epileptiform discharge frequencies in the control group (A). Significant decreases in epileptiform discharges were observed after 1, 2, and 6 months of listening to Mozart K.448 when compared with EEGs before listening to music (B). * p < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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