Impact of neonatal seizures in the neurological outcome during the early years of life <br><b>[Abstract in English]</b>

Abstract

AIMS: To evaluate the clinical and neurological outcome of children who had seizures in the neonatal period, checking the incidence and impact of the occurrence of postnatal epilepsy in relation to neuropsychomotor development and quality of sleep. METHODS: A cross sectional study was carried out in a historical cohort of infants who had seizures confirmed by clinical observation and electroencephalogram or video electroencephalogram, during hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of São Lucas Hospital, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Porto Alegre/RS, Brazil, from January 2004 to December 2009. Children were evaluated for neuropsychomotor development (Denver II test), sleep habits (Inventory of Sleep Habits for Preschool Children), and occurrence of post neonatal epilepsy. RESULTS: Group with follow-up consisted of 12 boys and 10 girls aged between 2 and 6 years. Ten patients (45.5%) had post-neonatal epilepsy. All children with epilepsy showed abnormal or questionable Denver II test. The means of total score on the Inventory of Sleep and its subscales showed a predominance of good sleep pattern in both groups (with and without epilepsy). The scores ranged from 5 to 59 (mean 34.84±14.61). Children with epilepsy had the lower scores in the Inventory of Sleep, suggesting better sleep habits. The difference in the sleep score between the two groups was 13.25 (95% confidence interval 1.39 to 25.11, p = 0.030). CONCLUSIONS: The study showed high incidence of epilepsy after neonatal seizures and association with indicators of delayed neuropsychomotor development. Quality of sleep presented a regular pattern in the study sample.