Epilepsy & behavior : E&B
-
Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · Sep 2006
Comparative StudyClinical characteristics of psychogenic nonepileptic seizure status in the long-term monitoring unit.
Patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) mimicking status epilepticus (PNES-status) are at risk of iatrogenic complications. Our aim was to assess whether the population of patients with PNES who develop PNES-status are distinguishable. Retrospectively, we identified patients with PNES-status and compared them with patients with PNES without status and with patients with electroclinical status epilepticus (SE). ⋯ Use of fewer than three antiepileptic drugs and emergent admission were independent predictors of PNES-status classification on logistic regression. Of 154 patients with epilepsy, 8 had SE during LTM (5.2%), significantly fewer than the proportion with PNES-status relative to PNES (P=0.008); the only clinical variable distinguishing these two groups was a baseline lower seizure frequency among the patients with epileptic seizures (P=0.045). Our results suggest that patients with PNES-status have features that differentiate them from patients with PNES without status and, to a lesser extent, from patients with epileptic seizures.