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. 2022 Jan;64(1):e14972.
doi: 10.1111/ped.14972.

Telemedicine in epilepsy management during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Kenjiro Kikuchi  1 , Shin-Ichiro Hamano  1 , Ayumi Horiguchi  1 , Hazuki Nonoyama  1   2 , Yuko Hirata  1 , Ryuki Matsuura  1 , Reiko Koichihara  1 , Akira Oka  1 , Daishi Hirano  2
Affiliations

Telemedicine in epilepsy management during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Kenjiro Kikuchi et al. Pediatr Int. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Telemedicine has spread rapidly during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and shown its usefulness, particularly for patients with epilepsy, compared to face-to-face visits. We sought to evaluate the clinical features of patients with childhood onset epilepsy associated with consultations by telephone call during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We retrospectively investigated the medical records of patients with childhood onset epilepsy who visited an outpatient clinic in Saitama Children's Medical Center, Saitama, Japan, from 1 March 2020 to 30 September 2020. To find the clinical features of patients who utilized telemedicine consultation (by telephone call), we divided the patients into the telemedicine group and the face-to-face group. We then reviewed the clinical features. Telemedicine consultation was not implemented for new patients.

Results: We enrolled 776 outpatients in total, and 294 patients (37.9%) utilized telemedicine consultations. The total number of visits was 2,299 and the total number of telemedicine consultations was 373 (16.2%). No clinical feature was associated with telemedicine consultations except for age at onset of epilepsy. The number of oral antiepileptic drugs prescriptions decreased in 23 of 776 (3.0%) of the patients who did not experience seizure deterioration, including status epilepticus, or who visited the emergency room.

Conclusion: Telemedicine consultations were successfully utilized for epilepsy treatment at our outpatient clinic, regardless of epilepsy type, etiology, seizure frequency, comorbidities, and patients' residential areas. Thus, telemedicine by telephone call may be a useful resource in the management of patients with childhood onset epilepsy during the pandemic.

Keywords: comorbidity; epilepsy management; etiology; face-to-face visits; telemedicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Shin‐ichiro Hamano has received funding for travel and speaker honoraria from UCB Japan Co. Ltd, Daiichisankyo Co. Ltd, and Eisai Co. Ltd., and has received research funds from Syneos Health Clinical Co. Ltd for clinical trial of Zogenix. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The number of telemedicine consultations and face‐to‐face visits among patients with epilepsy and the evolution of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Saitama prefecture, Japan.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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