[Minor seizures in young children: epileptic or not?]

In 80 children the clinical features of sudden changes of consciousness, motor activity and/or behavior were studied retrospectively. Epileptic and non-epileptic seizures could not be separated because of specific clinical characteristics in this population, although breath holding spells have some rather distinguishing features. The greatest problem was the lack of detailed clinical information in many cases. A group of children remains with paroxysmal events of unknown origin, but from this material the prognosis of them seems to be good. The clinician should be able to differentiate epileptic from non-epileptic seizures by taking a careful history based upon a detailed knowledge of the different kinds of both epileptic and non-epileptic attacks.