Institute of Ageing and Health, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Dev Med Child Neurol. 2012 Jul;54(7):612-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2012.04295.x. Epub 2012 Apr 14.
To describe the frequency and causes of death in children with epilepsy, ascertain the contribution of seizure disorder to cause of death, and compare with rates of sudden unexplained death in children without epilepsy.
This study was a retrospective review of clinical and death certificate records. It examined two UK population-based samples of deaths in children with epilepsy from 1 month to 18 years, together comprising the largest reported series of deaths in children with epilepsy (n=265).
In approximately two-thirds, the death was not due to the seizure disorder. Rates of unexplained death were similar in the two samples at 7.3% and 9.7%: all were in children with symptomatic or presumed symptomatic epilepsy. There were no unexplained deaths in the children with idiopathic epilepsy. Four per cent of the deaths were of children experiencing acute symptomatic seizures as part of their final illness. The risk of unexpected, unexplained death in children with idiopathic epilepsy is not more than 65 per 100,000 child-years.
Epilepsy is associated with an increased risk of death in childhood but this risk is almost entirely confined to those with an associated neurodevelopmental disorder. The risk of unexpected, unexplained death in children with idiopathic epilepsy is extremely small.
描述癫痫儿童的死亡率和死亡原因，确定癫痫发作对死亡原因的影响，并与无癫痫儿童的不明原因猝死率进行比较。
本研究回顾性分析了来自 1 个月至 18 岁的癫痫儿童的临床和死亡证明记录。该研究共纳入了来自英国的两个基于人群的癫痫儿童死亡样本，这是迄今为止报告的最大癫痫儿童死亡系列研究（n=265）。
大约三分之二的死亡不是由癫痫发作引起的。两个样本中不明原因死亡的发生率相似，分别为 7.3%和 9.7%：所有死亡均发生在有症状或疑似症状性癫痫的儿童中。特发性癫痫儿童中没有不明原因的死亡。4%的死亡是由于急性症状性癫痫发作而导致的终末期疾病。特发性癫痫儿童发生意外、不明原因死亡的风险不超过每 10 万儿童年 65 例。
癫痫会增加儿童期死亡的风险，但这种风险几乎完全局限于伴有神经发育障碍的儿童。特发性癫痫儿童发生意外、不明原因死亡的风险极小。
