First-drug treatment failures in children with typical absence epilepsy

BackgroundChildhood absence epilepsy (CAE) is a well-known syndrome with onset in middle childhood and is characterized by multiple typical absences per day. Pharmacological treatment is specific and usually successful with a single medication. The goal of the study was to assess on risk factors associated with failure to respond to the initial antiepileptic drug (AED).MethodsFifty-two children with CAE were enrolled. Predictive factors were analyzed by survival methods.ResultsAmong 52 patients, 32 patients (61.5%) were girls and the remaining 20 (38.5%) were boys and the mean age at the seizure onset was 6.5 ± 1.78 years old (3–11.5 years). Of the 52 patients, 42 (80.8%) were treated relatively successfully with the first AED treatment (Group A), and 10 (19.2%) were not responsed (Group B). Age of seizure onset, coexisting other types of seizures, and photoconvulsive EEG response were significantly associated with failure risk according to univariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, only photoconvulsive EEG response was the risk factor influencing poor response to initial AED treatment.ConclusionFactors predicting failure to respond to the AED were age of seizure onset, coexisting other types of seizures, and photoconvulsive EEG response in children with CAE.