Project Details
Description
DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from Investigator's Abstract) This application is to
continue an ongoing prospective study of 407 children identified at the time
of their first unprovoked seizure between 1984 and 1992 and prospectively
followed for a mean of 9.5 years to date. Childhood seizures are a common
event. Unprovoked seizures occur in approximately 2% of children, and
epilepsy in 1%. With extended follow-up, the investigators state they can
now address the long-term outcome of these children, including both
remission and its predictors as well as the long-term educational and social
outcomes. The research plan will continue the follow-up of this fully
recruited cohort. A comprehensive reevaluation after 10 or more years of
follow-up is planned, including a structured interview of educational and
social outcomes, a physical and neurological exam, neuroimaging with an MRI,
and a battery of instruments that measure quality of life, behavioral and
psychiatric problems, and educational achievement. The interview and test
instruments will also be administered to sibling controls.
Primary analysis will focus on the following: 1. Seizure outcomes
including risk of late recurrences (>2 and >5 years), probability of
attaining 2 and 5 year remission and risk of relapse after attaining
remission. Risk factors for these outcomes, late recurrence, remission and
relapse will also be examined. The incidence of neuroimaging abnormalities
such as heterotopias will be determined and the effect on prognosis
analyzed. 2. Long term social and educational outcomes of childhood
seizures compared with sibling controls as well an internal comparison of
those with one seizure to those who experience recurrent seizures.
They hypothesize that while the majority of subjects in this cohort will
attain remission, more than 30% will have neuroimaging abnormalities and
that the long term social and educational outcomes of the subjects will be
worse than that of their sibling controls. They further hypothesize that
etiology, age of onset and the specific epilepsy syndrome rather than the
number of seizures will be the key determinants of outcome.
The investigators state that the results from this study could substantially
increase understanding of the natural history of childhood seizure disorders
in terms of their evolution and prognosis which is a prerequisite for
designing medical, educational and social interventions targeting those at
risk for adverse long term outcomes.
Status | Finished |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 1/1/90 → 3/31/05 |
Funding
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: $341,675.00
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: $304,219.00
Fingerprint
Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.