TABLE 1.
Summary details of cases in three cause of death groups (case detail shown in Table S1)
| Groups | Age at death, mean (years); range | Gender M: F | Age at onset of epilepsy, mean (years); range | Cases with recent seizures reported recent: last 10 days | Focal brain pathology (relevant to epilepsy) Yes: No | Brain weight, mean (g) range | Fixation time, a mean (days) (range) | Postmortem interval, mean (days) (range) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
SUDEP N = 26 |
36.38 (15–68) | 15: 11 | 20.13 (5–49) | 2: 7 | 11: 15 | 1354 g (812–1664) | 45 (7–210) | 3.4 (1–7) |
|
Epilepsy controls (EPCs) N = 14 |
48.9 (1–88) | 8: 6 | 31.2 (0–82) | 8: 3 | 5: 9 | 1220 g (850–1421) | 52 (9–83) | 2.55 (1–6) |
|
Nonepilepsy controls N = 19 |
48.9 (23–90) | 10: 9 | NA | NA | NA | 1358 g (1060–1580) | 29 (12–140) | 4.4 (2–12) |
| Significance between cause of death groups | p = .05 (all three groups) | N/S (all three groups) | N/S (SUDEP and EPC groups) | p = .01 (SUDEP and EPC groups) | N/S (SUDEP and EPC groups) | N/S | p = .013 (all three groups) | N/S (all three groups) |
Note: Recent = Seizure reported at the time of, or just prior to death, including status epilepticus.
a
Fixation times shown for macroscopic brain examination and diagnostic sampling; detailed fixation times for each region shown in Table S1, as for some cases certain brain regions were sampled at a later time. Brain weight is recorded as the fixed weight prior to macroscopic dissection for the majority of cases where available data (see also Table S1). NA = not applicable. Differences between cause of death groups in the bottom row shown with nonparametric tests.