A ten-year follow-up cohort study of childhood epilepsy: Changes in epilepsy diagnosis with age.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate all of the characteristics of childhood epilepsy, we performed a long-term follow-up study on the patients who visited Okayama University Hospital.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively investigated the patients who were involved in the previous epidemiological study and visited Okayama University Hospital for a period of 10years after December 31, 1999.

RESULTS: Overall, there were 350 patients' medical records that were evaluated, and 258 patients with complete clinical information available for a 10-year period were enrolled. Ten patients died and the remaining 82 were lost to follow-up. Of 258 patients with complete information, 153 (59.3%) were seizure-free for at least 5years. One hundred thirty (50.4%) had intellectual disabilities and 77 (29.8%) had motor disabilities, including 75 (29.1%) with both disabilities on December 31, 2009. Thirty-four patients of 350 (9.7%) changed the epilepsy classification during follow-up. With regard to ten patients who died, nine of them had symptomatic epilepsy, particularly those with severe underlying disorders with an onset during the first year of life.

CONCLUSION: Clinical status considerably changed during the decade-long follow-up period in childhood epilepsy. Changes in the epilepsy diagnosis are especially important and should be taken into account in the long-term care of children with epilepsy.