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Patient awareness of seizures
D E Blum1, J Eskola, J J Bortz
1Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Barrow Neurological Institute, St.Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ 85013, USA.
Neurology
|July 1, 1996
Summary
Many epilepsy patients are unaware of their seizures, impacting treatment and research. This study highlights the unreliability of self-reporting seizure frequency and awareness in epilepsy management.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Epilepsy Research
Background:
- Patient self-reporting is crucial for epilepsy management.
- Awareness of seizures can vary significantly among individuals with epilepsy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To prospectively determine patient awareness of seizures during epilepsy monitoring.
- To assess the reliability of self-reported seizure frequency and awareness.
Main Methods:
- Prospective study of 31 epilepsy monitoring unit patients.
- Post-seizure and random questioning to assess seizure awareness.
- Comparison of awareness between epileptic and nonepileptic seizures.
Main Results:
- Only 26% of epilepsy patients were always aware of their seizures.
- Seizure awareness was lowest in temporal lobe epilepsy, particularly left-sided foci.
- Self-reporting of seizure frequency was unreliable, with lower reported frequencies correlating with higher unrecognized seizure fractions.
Conclusions:
- Unrecognized seizures are common in epilepsy and affect patient management.
- Seizure awareness is lower in certain epilepsy types, like temporal lobe epilepsy.
- Current self-reporting methods for seizures are unreliable and require consideration in clinical practice and research.