Epilepsy and COVID-19: Is infection correlated to an increased risk of seizure recurrence?

Abstract

The objective is to study the seizure dynamics in suffering COVID-19 patients with epilepsy, based on clinical observations and analysis of seizure progression. The study design was a single-centre retrospective uncontrolled open-label observational study of the impact of COVID-19 on the course of epilepsy. Suffering COVID-19 patients with epilepsy were interviewed between January and February 2021 using a questionnaire containing three sets of questions. The study included 13 suffering COVID-19 patients with epilepsy: genetic (idiopathic) generalised (7/13;54%), 6 cases of focal epilepsy (6/13;46%). 2 questionnaires have not been answered yet. The mean age was 34.31 + −12.68. Seizure remission prior to COVID-19 was noted in 10 patients (77%), there was no seizure control in 3 cases of focal epilepsy at the time of COVID-19 (23%). No seizure frequency increase was observed in any case. No recurrent seizures were detected. EEG follow-up showed no exacerbation of seizures compared to the pre-outbreak indicators. AED monotherapy was used in 61% of cases. Levetiracetam monotherapy administered to 50% of patients and LEV taken as a part of a polytherapy regimen - in 100%. The research findings and literature data show that patients with epilepsy are at no greater risk than the general population. Young age, seizure remission, absence of somatic comorbidities, modern drug use with no interaction among AEDs and antibiotics and antivirals for the coronavirus disease treatment can be considered as positive predictive value of the course of epilepsy with COVID-19. Further studies with a large sample sizes are needed.