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Curative Effect of Prebiotics/Probiotics-Assisted Ketogenic Diet on Children with Refractory Epilepsy
Lingying Su1, Sai Li2, Bo Sun1
1Department of Neurology, The Affiliated Huaian No. 1 Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huaian 223300, China.
Insights
Adding prebiotics and probiotics to the ketogenic diet (KD) significantly improves outcomes for children with refractory epilepsy. This combination therapy enhances seizure control, cognitive function, and quality of life while reducing adverse effects compared to KD alone.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Nutritional Neuroscience
Background:
- Refractory epilepsy in children presents significant treatment challenges.
- The ketogenic diet (KD) is an established therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy.
- Adjunctive therapies are explored to enhance KD efficacy and tolerability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of a ketogenic diet (KD) assisted by prebiotics and probiotics in pediatric patients with refractory epilepsy.
- To compare the outcomes of combined therapy versus KD alone.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 80 children with refractory epilepsy (December 2018-December 2020).
- Patients were divided into a KD group (36) and a combination group (44) receiving prebiotics/probiotics-assisted KD.
- Outcomes assessed included seizure control, electroencephalogram (EEG) findings, neurotransmitter levels, quality of life, cognitive function (VIQ, PIQ), and adverse events over a 1-year follow-up.
Main Results:
- The combination group showed a higher effective rate (95.45%) than the KD group (80.56%) (P < 0.05).
- Significant improvements in EEG, cognitive scores (VIQ, PIQ), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) levels, and quality of life were observed in the combination group compared to the KD group (P < 0.05).
- The incidence of adverse reactions was lower in the combination group (13.64%) versus the KD group (36.11%) (P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
- Prebiotics/probiotics-assisted KD demonstrates superior curative effects in children with refractory epilepsy.
- This combined approach effectively improves EEG, quality of life, neurotransmitter levels, and cognitive function.
- The adjunctive use of prebiotics and probiotics offers a safe and effective strategy to enhance ketogenic therapy for pediatric refractory epilepsy.
Objective:
The aim is to study the curative effect of prebiotics/probiotics-assisted ketogenic diet (KD) on children with refractory epilepsy.
Methods:
A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 80 children with refractory epilepsy treated in the hospital between December 2018 and December 2020. According to different treatment methods, they were divided into the KD group (36 cases, KD) and combination group (44 cases, prebiotics/probiotics assisted KD). All were followed up for 1 year. The curative effect, electroencephalogram findings, levels of neurotransmitters, quality of life scores, cognitive function (verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ), performance intelligence quotient (PIQ)), and incidence of adverse reactions were compared between the two groups.
Results:
At the last follow-up, the effective rate of the combination group was higher than that of the KD group (95.45% vs 80.56%) (P < 0.05). After 1 year of treatment, video electroencephalogram findings in both groups were improved, and the response rate of the combination group was higher than that of the KD group (97.73% vs 83.33%) (P < 0.05). After 1 year of treatment, levels of VIQ and PIQ in both groups were increased, which were higher in the combination group than the KD group (P < 0.05). After 1 year of treatment, the level of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in both groups was increased, which was higher in the combination group than the KD group (P < 0.05). After 1 year of treatment, quality of life scores in both groups were increased, which was higher in the combination group than the KD group (P < 0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in the combination group was lower than that in the KD group (13.64% vs 36.11%) (P < 0.05).
Conclusion:
The curative effect of prebiotics/probiotics-assisted KD is better on children with refractory epilepsy, which can effectively improve electroencephalogram and quality of life, increase neurotransmitters and cognitive levels, with good safety.
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