Abstracts

Rationale: The aim of our study was to evaluate the association of family history of epilepsy with the course of the disease.

Methods: Our study included consecutive adult patients (≥ 18 years) with epilepsy who visited the epilepsy clinic in University Hospital in Kraków, Poland, between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019. The following information were collected: age, sex, age at the onset of epilepsy, etiology of epilepsy, seizures and epilepsy type, frequency of seizures, antiseizure medication, and family history of epilepsy (number and sex of first degree, second degree and more distant relatives with epilepsy).

Results: The study involved 700 patients, including 420 women (60.0%). Mean age of participants was 36.9 years (SD: 13.4) and mean age at onset of epilepsy was 19.4 years (SD: 14.0). Most frequent type of epilepsy was focal (492, 70.3%) followed by genetic generalized (154, 22.0%). Overall, 315 (45.0%) patients have been seizure free for at least 12 month. More than a half of our cohort (390, 55.8%) was treated with monotherapy. Structural cause of epilepsy was diagnosed in 170 (24.3%) patients; genetic/presumed genetic in 165 (23.6%). Etiology of epilepsy was unknown in 327 (46.7%)._x000D_ _x000D_ Family history of epilepsy was noted in 141 patients (20.1%). First-degree relatives with epilepsy were affected in 75 patients (10.7%), second-degree relatives in 27 patients (3.8%) and more distant relatives in further 39 patients (6%)._x000D_ _x000D_ Maternal inheritance was noted in 53 (37.6%) patients, paternal in 36 (25.5%), both parental in 1 (0.7%); in 45 (31.9%) siblings or children were affected, and in other 6 patients (4.3%) this information was unavailable. In 109 (77.3%) patients with the family history of epilepsy one family member was affected with epilepsy. Family members affected with epilepsy were female in 58 (41.1%) patients, male in 70 (49.7%) and of both sexes in 13 (9.2%) patients._x000D_ _x000D_ Patients with a family history of epilepsy were more often female (68.8% to 57.8%, p = 0.017), younger (mean age 34.2 [years] to 37,., p = 0.008) and had lower age at onset of epilepsy (17.0 [years] to 20.0, p= 0,023). Moreover, there were more patients with genetic generalized epilepsy and fewer with focal in this group. We performed three logistic regression analyses: 1 – generalized epilepsy was an independent risk factor of a positive family history of epilepsy (p < 0.001, OR 2.7 [1.51-3.40]); 2 – younger age at onset and female sex were independent risk factors of having more than one family members affected (p=0.027, OR 0.96 [0.92-0.99]) ; 3 – younger age was a risk factor of having maternal inheritance (p=0.026; OR 0.97 [0.95-0-99]).