Reported seizures in early childhood: a 14-year follow-up

A detailed medical history is commonly regarded as a reliable means of classifying unexplained childhood losses of consciousness into diagnostic groups such as febrile seizures, epileptic attacks and breath-holding spells. The authors have tested this assumption by comparing adolescent follow-up status with the initial medical history in 56 individuals who suffered sudden losses of consciousness before age five. Only three of these 56 were epileptic when followed-up in adolescence and only two had received anticonvulsants at any time. The prognosis for 26 individuals with afebrile seizures without evidence of breath-holding syncope was not significantly worse than that for another 16 with febrile seizures. These findings indicate a good prognosis for untreated childhood seizures of a type often classified as epileptic.