Vitamin D status of untreated children and adolescent Egyptian patients with genetic generalized epilepsy: A case–control study

Abstract

PurposeAntiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are commonly incriminated for vitamin D deficiency in children with epilepsy. The aim of this study was to examine 25(OH) vitamin D status among children and adolescents with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE) who had never received AEDs and its relation to seizure frequency and epilepsy duration. MethodsThis case–control study was conducted on 42 recently diagnosed patients with GGE, aged ≤18 years and 40 age- and gender-matched controls. Serum 25(OH) vitamin D level was performed for all participants. ResultsSerum 25(OH) vitamin D level was significantly lower in patients (median = 22 ng/ml, interquartile range (IQR) = 16.6–28.6) compared with controls (median = 58.4 ng/ml, IQR = 53–68), (P-value < 0.001). Patients with ≥4 seizures per month had a significantly lower level of serum 25(OH) vitamin D (median = 17.7 ng/ml, IQR = 16–24) than patients with lower seizure frequency (median = 28.3 ng/ml, IQR = 24.2–40.2), (P-value = 0.004). Also, there was a statistically significant negative correlation between the duration of epilepsy and serum 25(OH) vitamin D level (r = −0.309, P-value = 0.046). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that serum 25(OH) vitamin D level with a cutoff value of 23.9 distinguished patients with low seizure frequency (five or less per year) from patients with higher seizure frequency with a sensitivity and specificity of 80% and 74%, respectively (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.798). ConclusionVitamin D deficiency is found in treatment-naive children with epilepsy and adolescents with GGE, and it is associated with higher seizure frequency, longer disease duration, and younger age at onset.