Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Aug;265(8):1780-1788.
doi: 10.1007/s00415-018-8907-7. Epub 2018 May 29.

The occurrence of seizures after ischemic stroke does not influence long-term mortality; a 26-year follow-up study

J H van Tuijl  1   2 , E P M van Raak  1 , R J van Oostenbrugge  1   3   4 , A P Aldenkamp  1   3   5   6 , R P W Rouhl  7   8   9
Affiliations

The occurrence of seizures after ischemic stroke does not influence long-term mortality; a 26-year follow-up study

J H van Tuijl et al. J Neurol. 2018 Aug.

Erratum in

Abstract

Objective: Epileptic seizures are a common complication after stroke. The relation between occurrence of seizures after stroke and long-term mortality remains elusive. We aimed to assess whether seizures in an early or late phase after ischemic stroke are an independent determinant of long-term mortality.

Methods: We prospectively included and followed 444 ischemic stroke patients with a first-ever supratentorial brain infarct for at least 2 years after their stroke regarding the occurrence of seizures. The final follow-up for mortality is from April 2015 (follow-up duration 24.5-27.8 years, mean 26.0 years, SD 0.9 years). We compared patients with early-onset seizures with all seizure-free patients, whereas the patients with late-onset seizures were compared with the 1-week survivors without any seizures. We used Cox-regression analyses to correct for possible confounding factors.

Results: Kaplan-Meier analysis showed significantly higher mortality for the patients with early-onset seizures (p = 0.002) but after correction for known risk factors for (long term) mortality early-onset seizures had no independent influence on long-term mortality (HR 1.09; 95% CI 0.64-1.85). In patients with late-onset seizures, no significant influence from late-onset seizures on long-term mortality was found (univariate p = 0.717; multivariate HR 0.81; 95% CI 0.54-1.20).

Conclusion: Both early-onset and late-onset seizures do not influence long-term mortality after ischemic stroke.

Keywords: Brain infarct; Epilepsy; Seizures; Stroke.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

JH van Tuijl, EPM van Raak, RJ van Oostenbrugge, AP Aldenkamp and RPW Rouhl report no conflicts of interest regarding the current study.

Ethical standards

According to national legislation at the time of registration informed consent was not required, as only regularly acquired patient data were recorded. The study protocol on long-term mortality was approved by the medical research ethics committee of the University hospital Maastricht and Maastricht University, and the study was conducted with the ethical standard laid down in the declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Kaplan–Meier survival curves of patients with early-onset seizures (dotted line) vs. all seizure-free patients (black line); p = 0.002
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan–Meier survival curves of patients with late-onset seizures (dotted line) vs. 1-week survivors without any seizures (black line); p = 0.717
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alberti A, Paciaroni M, Caso V, Venti M, Palmerini F, Agnelli G. Early seizures in patients with acute stroke: frequency, predictive factors, and effect on clinical outcome. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2008;4(3):715–720. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bladin CF, Alexandrov AV, Bellavance A, et al. Seizures after stroke: a prospective multicenter study. Arch Neurol. 2000;57(11):1617–1622. doi: 10.1001/archneur.57.11.1617. - DOI - PubMed
    1. De Herdt V, Dumont F, Henon H, et al. Early seizures in intracerebral hemorrhage: incidence, associated factors, and outcome. Neurology. 2011;77(20):1794–1800. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31823648a6. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rossi C, De Herdt V, Dequatre-Ponchelle N, Henon H, Leys D, Cordonnier C. Incidence and predictors of late seizures in intracerebral hemorrhages. Stroke. 2013;44(6):1723–1725. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.111.000232. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Procaccianti G, Zaniboni A, Rondelli F, Crisci M, Sacquegna T. Seizures in acute stroke: Incidence, risk factors and prognosis. Neuroepidemiology. 2012;39(1):45–50. doi: 10.1159/000338374. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms