Outcomes in pediatric patients with nonconvulsive status epilepticus

- NCSE is common in critically ill pediatric patients.
- After adjusting for confounders, NCSE remains associated with worse clinical outcome.
- Determining the net impact of NCSE on outcome is challenging.
- Challenges include heterogeneity of study settings and the lack of before-after data.

Recognition of nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) is gaining increasing attention in the assessment and evaluation of critically ill pediatric patients. The underlying cause of NCSE is often the most important factor in determining outcome. However, there is a growing body of literature suggesting that electrical seizure burden in NCSE also contributes to unfavorable outcomes. Determination of impact of NCSE on outcome based on current evidence involves consideration of heterogeneous study settings, study populations, and process of care and outcome measures. In addition, the lack of data on neurocognitive function prior to episodes of NCSE as well as limited long-term neurocognitive assessment data confines precise conclusions about neurocognitive changes.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled “Status Epilepticus”.