TABLE 1.
Summary of Patient Characteristics
| Parameter | Drug-Responsive Patients, n = 72 |
Drug-Resistant Patients, n = 31 |
Statistic | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number | 72 (69.9%) | 31 (30.1%) | — | |
| Sex | ||||
| Men | 24 (33.3%) | 11 (35.5%) | 1.1 (0.5–2.7) | 0.83 |
| Women | 48 (66.7%) | 20 (64.5%) | — | |
| Syndrome | ||||
| CAE | 8 (11.4%) | 6 (19.4%) | 4.5 (df = 4) | 0.34 |
| JAE | 9 (12.9%) | 7 (22.6%) | — | |
| JME | 29 (41.4%) | 12 (38.7%) | — | |
| GTCA | 20 (28.6%) | 4 (12.9%) | — | |
| Unclassified | 4 (5.7%) | 2 (6.5%) | — | |
| Age at epilepsy onset mean (SD) | 14.7 (8.5) | 13.4 (8.3) | 756.5 | 0.30 |
| Age at first EEG in study mean (SD) | 32.4 (13.5) | 30.0 (13.1) | 1,013 | 0.46 |
| Number of seizure types mean (SD) | 2.0 (0.8) | 2.1 (0.8) | 1,051.5 | 0.62 |
| Family history of epilepsy | ||||
| Yes | 39 (54.2%) | 17 (54.8%) | 1.9 (0.7–5.1) | 0.24 |
| No | 30 (41.7%) | 7 (22.6%) | — | |
| Number of ASMs tried mean (SD) | 3.1 (1.9) | 5.1 (2.7) | 584 | <0.001 |
| Tried VPA | ||||
| Yes | 35 (48.6%) | 22 (71.0%) | 2.6 (1.0–6.4) | 0.05 |
| No | 37 (51.4%) | 9 (29.0%) | — | |
| Total EEG duration (minutes) median (IQR) | 43.0 (42.0–2764.5) | 1,440.0 (42.0–2984.5) | 951.5 | 0.23 |
| EEG captured sleep | ||||
| Yes | 61 (84.7%) | 30 (96.8%) | 5.4 (0.7–43.9) | 0.10 |
| No | 11 (15.3%) | 1 (3.2%) | — |
For categorical variables with two levels (sex, family history of epilepsy, trial of valproic acid, and sleep captured), test statistics are ORs and 95% CIs, and P-values are obtained from a Fisher exact test. For categorical variables with more than two levels (IGE syndrome), test statistics are χ2 statistics from a χ2 test of independence. For continuous variables (age at first EEG, duration), test statistics are U statistics, and P-values are obtained from a Wilcoxon rank sum test. Ten patients were excluded from the family history analysis and two patients from the IGE syndrome analysis because of incomplete documentation precluding assignment of family history or IGE syndrome (and so percentages do not add up to 100% for these analyses). Of the six patients with “unclassified” IGE, two had Jeavons syndrome, one had CAE evolving to JAE with tonic seizures, two had adult onset of absences and convulsions, and one had convulsions and poorly characterized confusional episodes.
CAE, childhood absence epilepsy; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval; IGE, idiopathic generalized epilepsy; JAE, juvenile absence epilepsy; IQR, interquartile range; OR, odds ratio; VPA, valproic acid.