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Observational Study
. 2023 Aug 1;101(5):e546-e557.
doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000207472. Epub 2023 Jun 9.

Early Clinical Variables Associated With Refractory Convulsive Status Epilepticus in Children

Collaborators, Affiliations
Observational Study

Early Clinical Variables Associated With Refractory Convulsive Status Epilepticus in Children

Katrina Peariso et al. Neurology. .

Abstract

Background and objectives: The objective of this study was to determine patient-specific factors known proximate to the presentation to emergency care associated with the development of refractory convulsive status epilepticus (RSE) in children.

Methods: An observational case-control study was conducted comparing pediatric patients (1 month-21 years) with convulsive SE whose seizures stopped after benzodiazepine (BZD) and a single second-line antiseizure medication (ASM) (responsive established status epilepticus [rESE]) with patients requiring more than a BZD and a single second-line ASM to stop their seizures (RSE). These subpopulations were obtained from the pediatric Status Epilepticus Research Group study cohort. We explored clinical variables that could be acquired early after presentation to emergency medical services with univariate analysis of the raw data. Variables with p < 0.1 were retained for univariable and multivariable regression analyses. Multivariable logistic regression models were fit to age-matched and sex-matched data to obtain variables associated with RSE.

Results: We compared data from a total of 595 episodes of pediatric SE. Univariate analysis demonstrated no differences in time to the first BZD (RSE 16 minutes [IQR 5-45]; rESE 18 minutes [IQR 6-44], p = 0.068). Time to second-line ASM was shorter in patients with RSE (RSE 65 minutes; rESE 70 minutes; p = 0.021). Both univariable and multivariable regression analyses revealed a family history of seizures (OR 0.37; 95% CI 0.20-0.70, p = 0.0022) or a prescription for rectal diazepam (OR 0.21; 95% CI 0.078-0.53, p = 0.0012) was associated with decreased odds of RSE.

Discussion: Time to initial BZD or second-line ASM was not associated with progression to RSE in our cohort of patients with rESE. A family history of seizures and a prescription for rectal diazepam were associated with a decreased likelihood of progression to RSE. Early attainment of these variables may help care for pediatric rESE in a more patient-tailored manner.

Classification of evidence: This study provides Class II evidence that patient and clinical factors may predict RSE in children with convulsive seizures.

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Conflict of interest statement

K. Peariso reports no disclosures relevant to the manuscript; R. Arya receives research support from NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke R01 NS115929, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation (Research Innovation Project Grant), and University of Cincinnati Center for Clinical & Translational Science & Training (Pilot Collaborative Studies Grant); T. A. Glauser is funded by NIH grants 2U01-NS045911, U10-NS077311, R01-NS053998, R01-NS062756, R01-NS043209, R01-LM011124, R01-NS065840, U24 NS107200, and 1U01TR002623; he has received consulting fees from Supernus, Sunovion, Eisai, and UCB. He also serves as an expert consultant for the US Department of Justice, has received compensation for work as an expert on medicolegal cases, and receives royalties from a patent license; N. S. Abend is funded by the NIH K02NS096058 and the Wolfson Family Foundation; A. Anderson and B. Appavu report no disclosures relevant to the manuscript; C. Barcia Aguilar is funded by Fundación Alfonso Martin Escudero; M. Amengual-Gual was funded by Fundación Alfonso Martin Escudero; J. N. Brenton is funded by NIH-NINDS 1K23NS116225 and has served as a consultant for Novartis Pharmaceuticals; J. L. Carpenter, K. E. Chapman, J. Clark, and W. D. Gaillard report no disclosures relevant to the manuscript; M. Gaínza-Lein was previously funded by the Epilepsy Research Fund; J. L. Goldstein, H. P. Goodkin, P. Horn, L. Huh R. Kahoud, K. Kapur, Y. Lai, T. L. McDonough, M. A. Mikati, L. A. Morgan, E. Novotny, A. P. Ostendorf, E. T. Payne, and J. Piantino report no disclosures relevant to the manuscript; J. J. Riviello is a member of Early CLN2 Signs North American Advisory Board for Biomarin, his spouse is an editor for Uptodate; T. T. Sands, C. E. Stafstrom, and R. C. Tasker report no disclosures relevant to the manuscript; D. Tchapyjnikov has received research funding from Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals and Duke Forge, he has also received consultation fees from Gerson Lehrman Group, Guidepoint, IQVIA, and bioStrategies Group; A. Vasquez reports no disclosures relevant to the manuscript; M. S. Wainwright serves as a scientific consultant, is on the clinical advisory board for Sage Pharmaceuticals, and serves as a consultant to Marinus Pharmaceuticals; A. Wilfong receives research funding from Novartis, Eisai, Pfizer, UCB, Acorda, Lundbeck, GW Pharma, Upsher-Smith, and Zogenix and receives publication royalties from Uptodate; K. Williams reports no disclosures relevant to the manuscript; T. Loddenkemper serves on the Council of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, as founder and consortium PI of the pediatric status epilepticus research group (pSERG), as an Associate Editor for Wyllie's Treatment of Epilepsy 6th edition and 7th editions, and as a member of the NORSE Institute, and CCEMRC. He served as an Associate Editor of Seizure and served on the Laboratory Accreditation Board for Long Term (Epilepsy and Intensive Care Unit) Monitoring in the past. He is part of patent applications to detect and predict clinical outcomes and to detect, manage, diagnose, and treat neurologic conditions, epilepsy, and seizures. He is a coinventor of the TriVox Health technology, and Dr. Loddenkemper and Boston Children's Hospital might receive financial benefits from this technology in the form of compensation in the future. He received research support from the Epilepsy Research Fund, NIH, the Epilepsy Foundation of America, the Epilepsy Therapy Project, the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation and received research grants from Lundbeck, Eisai, Upsher-Smith, Mallinckrodt, Sunovion, Sage, Empatica, and Pfizer, including past device donations from various companies, including Empatica, SmartWatch, and Neuro-electrics. He served as a consultant for Zogenix, Upsher Smith, Amzell, Engage, Elsevier, UCB, Grand Rounds, Advance Medical, and Sunovion. He performs video-EEG long-term and ICU monitoring, electroencephalograms, and other electrophysiologic studies at Boston Children's Hospital and affiliated hospitals and bills for these procedures, and he evaluates pediatric neurology patients and bills for clinical care. He has received speaker honorariums/travel support from national societies including the AAN, AES, and ACNS and for grand rounds at various academic centers. His wife, Dr. Karen Stannard, is a pediatric neurologist who performs video-EEG long-term and ICU monitoring, electroencephalograms, and other electrophysiologic studies and bills for these procedures. She evaluates pediatric neurology patients and bills for clinical care. Go to Neurology.org/N for full disclosures.

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