New onset acute symptomatic seizure and risk factors in coronavirus disease 2019: A retrospective multicenter study

• Published in: Epilepsia (Copenhagen) Vol. 61; no. 6; pp. e49 - e53
• Main Authors: Lu, Lu, Xiong, Weixi, Liu, Dan, Liu, Jing, Yang, Dan, Li, Nian, Mu, Jie, Guo, Jian, Li, Weimin, Wang, Gang, Gao, Hui, Zhang, Yingying, Lin, Mintao, Chen, Lei, Shen, Sisi, Zhang, Hesheng, Sander, Josemir W., Luo, Jianfei, Chen, Shengli, Zhou, Dong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-06-2020; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: acute symptomatic seizures; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Betacoronavirus; Brain injury; Brief Communication; Brief Communications; Child; Child, Preschool; China - epidemiology; Convulsions & seizures; Coronaviridae; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Epilepsy; Female; Humans; Hypocalcemia; Hypoxia - epidemiology; Incidence; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Male; Medical records; Middle Aged; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; SARS-CoV-2; Seizures; Seizures - epidemiology; Sepsis - epidemiology; Severity of Illness Index; Water-Electrolyte Imbalance - epidemiology; Young Adult; China; COVID-19; epilepsy; SARS-CoV-2; acute symptomatic seizures
• ISSN: 0013-9580; 1528-1167
• DOI: 10.1111/epi.16524

Our aim was to clarify the incidence and risk of acute symptomatic seizures in people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). This multicenter retrospective study enrolled people with COVID‐19 from January 18 to February 18, 2020 at 42 government‐designated hospitals in Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic in China; Sichuan province; and Chongqing municipality. Data were collected from medical records by 11 neurologists using a standard case report form. A total of 304 people were enrolled, of whom 108 had a severe condition. None in this cohort had a known history of epilepsy. Neither acute symptomatic seizures nor status epilepticus was observed. Two people had seizurelike symptoms during hospitalization due to acute stress reaction and hypocalcemia, and 84 (27%) had brain insults or metabolic imbalances during the disease course known to increase the risk of seizures. There was no evidence suggesting an additional risk of acute symptomatic seizures in people with COVID‐19. Neither the virus nor potential risk factors for seizures seem to be significant risks for the occurrence of acute symptomatic seizures in COVID‐19.