Prevalence, Semiology, and Risk Factors of Epilepsy in Alzheimer's Disease: An Ambulatory EEG Study

Horváth, András and Szűcs, Anna and Hidasi, Zoltán and Csukly, Gábor and Barcs, Gábor and Kamondi, Anita (2018) Prevalence, Semiology, and Risk Factors of Epilepsy in Alzheimer's Disease: An Ambulatory EEG Study. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 63 (3). pp. 1045-1054. ISSN 1387-2877

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Abstract

BACKGROUND Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the primary cause of cognitive decline. A growing body of evidence suggests that AD patients have a higher risk to develop epileptic seizures; however, results are contradictory due to different methodological approaches of previous studies. OBJECTIVE We aimed to identify the prevalence, semiology, and risk factors of epilepsy in AD using long-term EEG. METHODS We selected forty-two AD patients and examined them using 24-hour ambulatory EEG. Neurological and epileptological data were collected with retro- and prospective methods. We analyzed the semiology of the identified seizures and the possible risk factors using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS We identified seizures confirmed by EEG in 24%. The majority of the seizures were aware focal (72%) without any motor activity (55%). We found epileptiform discharges without seizures in 28%. Patients with seizures and only with epileptic EEG activity showed similar clinical and demographical features. Higher education (OR:1.8) and lower Addenbrooke Examination Score (OR: 0.9) were identified as risk factors of epilepsy. Increase of 0.1 point in the Verbal-Language/Orientation-Memory ratio (VLOM) was associated with higher epilepsy risk as well (OR:2.9). CONCLUSION Epilepsy is a frequent comorbidity of AD. Since most of the seizures are aware non-motor focal seizures, sensitive EEG techniques are required for precise diagnosis of epilepsy. Long-term ambulatory EEG is a safe and well-tolerated option. Epileptiform EEG in AD signals the presence of concomitant epilepsy. Clinicians have to pay attention to comorbid epilepsy in dementia patients with high education, with high VLOM ratio and severe stage.

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