Yield of EEG monitoring in children with developmental disabilities is high

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate the yield of a 2-hour electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring (awake and sleep) in children with developmental disabilities and without any clinically apparent seizures. MethodsIn this retrospective study, I investigated all children below 9 years of age who had developmental disabilities and were referred to Shiraz Comprehensive Epilepsy center for electroencephalographic investigation from June 2017 until January 2018. Exclusion criteria included any past history of neonatal seizures, febrile or afebrile seizures, and parental suspicion for seizures. We systematically obtained a brief clinical history and performed a 2-hour, awake and asleep EEG monitoring for all patients. ResultsThirty-two patients (23 males and 9 females) met all the inclusion and exclusion criteria; mean age (±standard deviation) was 4.1 (±2.1) years. Nineteen patients (59%) had an abnormal EEG: 15 patients (47%) had epileptiform discharges, and four children had abnormal background activity with no epileptiform discharges. ConclusionConsidering the high diagnostic yield of an awake and asleep EEG monitoring, as it was observed in the current study, this test on a screening basis can be reasonably justified in all children with developmental disabilities.