Incidence and risk factors associated with the development of epilepsy in patients with intracranial alveolar echinococcosis

Abstract

Parasitic infection remains a critical health problem in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of China. The association of epilepsy and intracranial alveolar echinococcosis (IAE) is still largely unclear. This study primarily aimed to assess both the incidence and possible risk factors of epilepsy in patients with IAE. According to the occurrence of seizures, patients were separated into two different groups consisting of patients with epilepsy and those without epilepsy. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the potential risk factors associated with the development of epilepsy in patients with IAE. A total of 97 patients (42 women, 55 men; age 19–76 years) were enrolled. Epilepsy was observed in almost 20 % of patients with IAE. The use of anti-seizure medications was not standardized, as 83.3 % of female patients of childbearing age used sodium valproate. It was observed that cortical lesions (hazard ratio (HR) = 29.740, P = 0.006) were significantly associated with development of epilepsy. In addition, epilepsy had no significant effect on the overall survival rate of patients with IAE.