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Status Epilepticus in Pediatric Patients Severity Score: A Clinical Score to Predict the Outcome of Status

Dama Mahesh1, Anilkumar Sajjan, V J Prakash

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Shri B. M. Patil Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, BLDE (DU), Vijayapura, Karnataka, India.

Annals of African Medicine
|July 23, 2026
PubMed

Insights

The Status Epilepticus in Pediatric Patients Severity Score (STEPSS) effectively predicts outcomes in children with status epilepticus (SE). A lower STEPSS score indicates survival, while higher scores are linked to mortality and poor neurological outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric critical care medicine
  • Neurology
  • Clinical risk assessment

Background:

  • Status epilepticus (SE) in children presents significant morbidity and mortality risks.
  • Early identification of high-risk pediatric SE patients is crucial for improving outcomes.
  • The Status Epilepticus in Pediatric Patients Severity Score (STEPSS) is a clinical tool for predicting SE outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the clinical utility of the STEPSS score in predicting outcomes for pediatric patients with SE.
  • To assess the effectiveness of STEPSS in identifying children at high risk of adverse outcomes from SE.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional study involving 50 children (1 month to 16 years) with SE (seizures ≥5 min).
  • STEPSS was calculated upon admission based on clinical parameters.
  • Patient outcomes were assessed clinically; statistical analysis used SPSS v26.

Main Results:

  • 60% of children had a STEPSS score of 3 or higher.
  • Mortality was observed in 26.7% of children with STEPSS ≥3, versus survival in those with STEPSS ≤2 (P=0.0117).
  • Higher STEPSS scores correlated with significantly worse neurological outcomes and mortality.

Conclusions:

  • The STEPSS score is a valuable tool for the early prediction of outcomes in pediatric status epilepticus.
  • STEPSS demonstrates high sensitivity and a high Negative Predictive Value for identifying favorable outcomes.
  • Despite lower specificity, STEPSS aids in risk stratification for pediatric SE.
Abstract

Keywords:
Outcome predictionPrédiction du pronosticStatus Epilepticus in Pediatric Patients Severity Scorepediatricprognosispronosticpédiatriescore de gravité de l’état de mal épileptique chez les patients pédiatriques (STEPSS)status epilepticusétat de mal épileptique

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