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. 2018 Jul-Aug;66(4):1031-1035.
doi: 10.4103/0028-3886.236973.

Early post-stroke seizures in a sample of Egyptian patients with first-ever stroke

Nahed Shehta  1 , Rasha M Fahmi  1 , Bothina M Ramadan  1 , Engy M Emad  1 , Ahmed F Elsaid  2
Affiliations
Free article

Early post-stroke seizures in a sample of Egyptian patients with first-ever stroke

Nahed Shehta et al. Neurol India. 2018 Jul-Aug.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Cerebrovascular stroke is considered as the most common cause of symptomatic seizures. Post-stroke seizures herald a poor functional outcome, a high mortality rate, and a long in-hospital duration of stay.

Aim: To assess the incidence and risk factors responsible for early seizures after the first-ever cerebral stroke, and its relation to the functional outcome and the in-hospital mortality following stroke as well as the duration of stay.

Patients and methods: 150 patients with first-ever stroke, who were admitted in an intensive care and stroke unit of the Neurology Department of Zagazig University Hospitals, Egypt, within the first 24 hours of stroke onset were included in the study. Early seizures (within 7 days of stroke onset), stroke severity (National Institutes of Health stroke scale; NIHSS), radiological data, functional outcome (Barthel index), in-hospital mortality and duration of stay were collected and analyzed.

Results: The incidence of early seizures associated with first-ever stroke was 9.3%. Risk factors for early seizures were intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) [odds ratio (OR) = 3.2, P = <0.001), cortical lesions (OR = 2.8, P = <0.05), and a large lesion size (OR = 2, P= <0.05). Patients with early seizures had lower scores on the Barthel index than those without seizures (7.5 ± 4.1 versus 10.5 ± 3.5), had higher discharge National Institutes of Health Stroke scale (NIHSS) scores, had a higher in-hospital mortality rate (35.7% versus 6.6% in patients without seizures) and duration of stay (19.4 ± 6.5 versus 10.7 ± 4.2 days respectively).

Conclusion: The incidence of early post-stroke seizures was high in our study and was positively associated with a poor functional outcome, a higher in-hospital mortality rate and a longer duration of in-hospital stay. The most important risk factors were ICH, the cortical site of involvement and a large size of the lesion.

Keywords: Stroke; early seizures; in-hospital duration of stay; incidence; mortality rate; risk factors; stroke outcome.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest

Comment in

  • Early post-stroke seizures with first-ever stroke.
    Ranganathan LN, Subramanian S, Ramamurthy G, Arun Shivaraman MM. Ranganathan LN, et al. Neurol India. 2018 Jul-Aug;66(4):949-951. doi: 10.4103/0028-3886.237004. Neurol India. 2018. PMID: 30038075 No abstract available.
  • Not to forget: Seizures in acute stroke.
    Srivastava AK, Warrier AR. Srivastava AK, et al. Neurol India. 2018 Jul-Aug;66(4):952-954. doi: 10.4103/0028-3886.237006. Neurol India. 2018. PMID: 30038076 No abstract available.

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