Efficacy of the ketogenic diet in patients with Dravet syndrome: A meta-analysis

Dravet syndrome is an infantile epilepsy syndrome with drug resistant seizures and cognitive impairment. The aim of this meta-analysis was to summarize the findings of relevant published studies to identify the efficacy of a ketogenic diet in patients with Dravet syndrome and their compliance thereof, and to provide useful information for clinical practice.

The PubMed, Embase, Wanfang, and CNKI databases were searched for relevant studies published up to September 25, 2019; the included studies were reviewed. Meta-analyses were performed using R software to determine the combined efficacy rates and retention rate for the ketogenic diet in patients with Dravet syndrome.

Seven studies involving 167 patients met the inclusion criteria: four were retrospective studies, and three were prospective studies. The meta-analysis revealed that 63 %, 60 %, and 47 % of responder patients achieved ≥50 % seizure reduction at month 3, 6, and 12, respectively. The pooled retention rate of the ketogenic diet at month 6 and month 12 was 78 % and 49 %, respectively.

Our meta-analysis indicates that the ketogenic diet is a treatment option for patients with Dravet syndrome. The ketogenic diet is safe and its adverse effects are mostly acceptable. However, further investigations, especially high-quality controlled trials with large samples, are required.