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Diagnoses made in a secondary care "fits, faints, and funny turns" clinic

D Hindley1, A Ali, C Robson

  • 1Fairfield General Hospital, Bury, UK. dthindley@doctors.org.uk

Archives of Disease in Childhood
|February 24, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Most children referred for "funny turns" do not have epilepsy. Syncope is the most common non-epileptic cause, and many cases remain unclassified but can be managed without a diagnosis.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neurology
  • Clinical Diagnostics

Background:

  • Referrals to
  • fits, faints, and funny turns
  • clinics are common in pediatric secondary care.
  • Accurate diagnosis is crucial for appropriate management.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the diagnostic outcomes for children referred to a specialized clinic for episodes of "fits, faints, and funny turns."
  • To determine the prevalence of epilepsy and other conditions in this pediatric population.

Main Methods:

  • A prospective study was conducted over eight years.
  • 380 children referred to a dedicated secondary care clinic were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Epilepsy was diagnosed in 23% of children, with 48% having specific epilepsy syndromes.
  • Syncope was the most frequent non-epileptic diagnosis (42%), with other causes also identified.
  • 14% of events were unclassified and managed without specific diagnosis or treatment.

Conclusions:

  • The diagnostic spectrum for pediatric "funny turns" is broad.
  • Epilepsy is less common than other conditions like syncope in referred children.
  • A significant proportion of cases are unclassified but can be managed expectantly and safely.
Abstract

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