Experiences in an Epilepsy Polyclinic: Epilepsy in the Elderly

Abstract

Objectives:Epilepsy is one of the most common serious neurological disorders in the elderly. In this study the demographic and clinical features, etiological factors, seizure types and response ratios to treatment are presented for a group of patients aged 60 years and over diagnosed with epilepsy.Results:Twenty-five patients aged 60 years and over who applied to the epilepsy polyclinic were retrospectively investigated.Results:Average patient age was 75.0±7.1 years and average disease duration was 2.32±1.8 years. Sixteen patients were male and 9 female. Among the patients, cerebrovascular disease (17 patients), brain tumor (1 patient), arachnoid cyst (1 patient), aneurysm (1 patient) and myocardial infarction (1 patient) were considered as the underlying factors in seizure development. In the remaining 4 cases, no etiological cause was determined. Seizure types were; secondary generalized tonic-clonic seizure (20 patients), simple partial seizure (2 patients), status epilepticus seizure (2 patients), and complex partial seizure (1 patient). EEG findings were abnormal in 32% of the patients (n=8). When evaluated for treatment, 18 patients received monotherapy; 6 patients used double, and 1 patient used triple drugs. The follow-up period in 21 cases was without seizure.Conclusion:In the study, the most common etiological cause of epilepsy seen in the elderly was cerebrovascular disease. Seizure type was mainly secondary generalized tonic-clonic. The patients responded well to monotherapy and prognosis was improved.

Keywords

• elderly
• epilepsy