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. 2021 Feb;143(2):206-209.
doi: 10.1111/ane.13354. Epub 2020 Nov 17.

Epilepsy and lockdown: A survey of patients normally attending a Spanish centre

Estefanía Conde Blanco  1 , Isabel Manzanares  1 , María Centeno  1 , Mariam Khawaja  1 , Olga Betrán  1 , Antonio Donaire  1 , Mar Carreño  1
Affiliations

Epilepsy and lockdown: A survey of patients normally attending a Spanish centre

Estefanía Conde Blanco et al. Acta Neurol Scand. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Lockdown due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic became a challenge to maintain care for patients with epilepsy; we aimed to find out how the pandemic affected them.

Methods: We sent an online 22-item questionnaire to patients from our outpatient clinic, a reference centre in Spain for drug-resistant epilepsy, inquiring about the effects of lockdown, from March to May 2020.

Results: We sent the survey to 627 patients; 312 (58% women) sent a complete response and were included. Of all respondents, 57% took >2 antiseizure medications. One-third of respondents (29%) declared an associated cognitive or motor disability. A minority had confirmed infection with SARS-CoV-2 (1.92%). Seizure frequency remained like usual in 56% of patients, while 31.2% reported an increase. Less than 10% needed emergent assistance. Almost half reported anxiety or depression, and 25% increased behavioural disorders. Mood (F: 5.40; p: 0.002) and sleep disorders (F = 2.67; p: 0.05) were associated with increase in seizure frequency. Patients were able to contact their physicians when needed and were open to a future telematic approach to follow-up visits.

Conclusions: Seizure frequency and severity remained unchanged in most patients during the lockdown. Mood and sleep disorders were common and associated with seizure worsening. Patients were open to telematic care in the future.

Keywords: COVID-19; epilepsy; neuroepidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this study.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Seizure frequency change during the COVID‐19 pandemic according to sleep disturbances, behaviour or mood problems and cognitive impairment. We show a bar chart to capture the reported categories of seizure frequency in our patients with sleep, mood, behaviour and cognitive disability. An increase in seizure frequency was reported by 45% of patients who had been experiencing mood disorders and 51% of those with behaviour disorders. Regarding sleep, 43% of respondents admitted having difficulties with sleep during the lockdown. A third of the patients with cognitive disabilities associated with their epilepsy experienced an increase in seizure frequency. Abbreviation: Sz: seizure
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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