Seasonality of birth in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy

We investigated the seasonal pattern in births of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and mesial temporal sclerosis. We hypothesized that the seasonal pattern in births of these patients is different from that in the general population.

In this retrospective study, all patients who were evaluated for epilepsy surgery at Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Thomas Jefferson, Philadelphia, USA, between 1986 and 2014 and had a diagnosis of mesial temporal sclerosis (made by definite imaging findings of atrophy and/or sclerosis) were included. The seasonality in births of patients was compared with the seasonal pattern in the live births of the general population from Pennsylvania State.

Two hundred and eighty-two patients (146 females and 136 males) were studied. The seasonality pattern in birth of patients was not statistically different from that in the general population.

The observed contradictory findings among various studies indicate the need for further studies to elucidate whether season of birth brings the possibility of acquiring various epilepsy syndromes in the future. To investigate any possible association between season of birth and epilepsy, we suggest avoid pooling all patients with epilepsy together.