Sociodemographic Profile, Semiology, and Etiology of Patients with Status Epilepticus: A Study from a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Despite advance in treatment of status epilepticus (SE), a major neurological emergency, it is still associated with mortality and morbidity. The objective of our study was to estimate sociodemographic profile, semiology, and etiology in the children with SE admitted in pediatric intensive care. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Children between 1 month and 18 years with continuous seizure activity of >5 min or two or more sequential seizures without full recovery of consciousness between seizures, admitted in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Department of Pediatrics, Government Medical College, Srinagar, were included in the study. A semi-structured tool was designed to record the sociodemographic details. Detailed history, clinical examination, and investigations (including neuroimaging as and when needed) were used to determine the type of seizure and etiology. RESULTS: A total of 51 patients were included in our study. Most of the patients were <5 years with 47.10% in 1–5 years’ age group and 43.10% in >1-year age group. Males (60.80%) outnumbered females. Thirty-nine patients (76.47%) belonged to “known” or “symptomatic” group with 35 (68.60%) of them presenting with SE as their fresh seizure. Thirty-nine (76.47%) of our patients had generalized tonic–clonic seizure (GTCS) type of SE. CONCLUSION: Most of the children (90%) were below the age of 5 years with male predominance. Most of the patients had SE as their first seizure without prior history of seizures with GTCSs was the most frequent seizure type.