Aetiology of seizures in elderly

Seizures are frequent in patients over 60 years. Often, there is an underlying causative disorder, which aids in the treatment of these patients. To study the aetiological profile of seizures in patients aged 60 years and above, 100 elderly patients with seizures, attending medicine or neurology OPD or admitted under these departments for seizures were studied. A complete history and detailed examination followed by biochemical, haematological, serological tests and neuro-imaging were obtained. Additional studies including cerebrospinal fluid analysis, and toxicology tests were done as and when indicated. There was no gender difference noted in the type or in the aetiology of the seizures. Stroke (31%) was the most common cause of seizures, followed by metabolic derangements (19%). In 24% of the patients, no cause could be found. Infection caused seizures in a significant number of patients when compared to other studies in the literature. Generalised tonic clonic seizure was the most common type of seizure, again a finding differing from many previous studies. The fact that the population size was smaller and the majority of the patients were in the "younger elderly" ie, age group of < 75 years could have contributed to the differing result. The commonest aetiology of seizure in the elderly was found to be cerebrovascular accident and a significant number of patients were found to have an infectious cause for their seizures.