Table 1.
Demographics and clinical characteristics of the patients.
| Total patients (n = 46) | Descriptives |
|---|---|
| Age at baseline in years (median, (IQR)) | 33 (28–43) |
| Sex (female/male) | 23/23 |
| Educational years (median, (IQR)) | 12 (12–14) |
| Psychiatric comorbidity | |
| Yes (n, %) | 12 (26.1) |
| Present/Past | 7/5 |
| No (n, %) | 34 (73.9) |
| BDI at baseline (median, (IQR)) | 5 (2–10) |
| Age at epilepsy onset in years (median, (IQR)) | 16 (10.8–23) |
| Epilepsy duration in years (median, (IQR)) | 15.5 (10–24) |
| ILAE Etiology (n, %) | |
| Structural | 15 (32.7) |
| Cortical developmental malformations | 5 (10.8) |
| Vascular lesion | 4 (8.7) |
| AV-malformation | 2 (4.3) |
| Cavernoma | 1 (2.2) |
| Brain trauma | 1 (2.2) |
| Late effects of radiation | 1 (2.2) |
| Hippocampal sclerosis | 1 (2.2) |
| Immune | 4 (8.7) |
| Limbic autoimmune encephalitis | 4 (8.7) |
| Infectious | 2 (4.3) |
| Genetic | 1 (2.2) |
| Unknown | 24 (52.2) |
| Epilepsy type (n, %) | |
| Frontal lobe epilepsy | 18 (39.1) |
| Temporal lobe epilepsy | 17 (37.0) |
| Other | 11 (23.9) |
| Predominant seizure type at baseline (n, %) | |
| FAS | 5 (11) |
| FIAS | 29 (63) |
| FBTCS* | 12 (26) |
| Number of ASMs at baseline (n, %) | |
| 1 | 1 (2.2) |
| 2 | 16 (34.8) |
| 3 | 25 (54.3) |
| 4 | 4 (8.7) |
| VNS model (n, %) | |
| 1000 (Sentiva®) | 14 (30.4) |
| 106 (Aspire®) | 25 (54.3) |
| 102 | 7 (15.2) |
| Duration of VNS therapy in months (median, (range)) | 31.5 (12–60) |
| Previous brain surgery (resective or other) | |
| Yes (n, %) | 9 (20) |
| No (n, %) | 37 (80) |
*Including one patient with GTCS as the predominant seizure type. ASM = antiseizure medication, BDI = Beck’s Depression Inventory, FAS = focal aware seizure, FBTCS = focal to tonic clonic seizure, FIAS = focal impaired awareness seizure.