Authors :
Presenting Author: David Gromes, – Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA & LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
Nicolas Zabler, MS – Epilepsy Center, Medical Center – University of Freiburg
Qasrina Shafei, BS – LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich
Marco Davalle, Dr. – Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health
Nikolaos Nikolaou, Dr. – Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health
Matthias Dümpelmann, Dr. – Epilepsy Center, Medical Center – University of Freiburg
Tobias Loddenkemper, MD – Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Andreas Schulze-Bonhage, MD, PhD – University of Freiburg
Alexandra Schneider, Dr. – Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health
Solveig Vieluf, PhD – LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany
Rationale:
The association between ambient temperature and epileptic seizure occurrence remains unclear, with prior studies reporting inconsistent findings across populations and climates. Previous research has shown increased seizure risk during colder periods, while others observed higher seizure rates with higher temperatures. Seasonal patterns in seizure frequency have also been described, with peaks in winter and nadirs in summer. These discrepancies highlight the need for further investigation into the relationship between temperature fluctuations and seizure risk. This study explores associations between outside temperature and seizure occurrence in a patient cohort from southwest Germany.
Methods:
Patients were recruited by University Hospital Freiburg (ethics approval RADAR-CNS study 19/LO/1884). They documented seizures daily using a mobile application for a patient-specific timeframe between 20th January 2021 and 19th January 2022. We categorized seizure occurrences by the four meteorological seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter). A chi-square test for goodness of fit assessed whether the number of seizure occurrences relative to patients providing reports per day differed significantly across seasons. T-tests were calculated to test differences in temperature data (maximum air temperature, day-to-day changes, and within-day changes) for days with seizures compared to days without.
Results:
Ten patients (mean age: 40.7 (SD 14.1, median 38.0, IQR 28.7-53.6), 50% female) reported a total of 1,492 days with 225 seizures documented on 147 days. The distribution of the relative number of seizures per day across seasons was as follows: spring (n = 9.75 %), summer (n = 14.34 %), fall (n = 22.25 %), and winter (n = 3.05 %). An individual patient experienced a seizure during winter approximately every 19 days, and during fall every 3 days. The chi-square test revealed a significant difference in event occurrence across seasons (χ² (df = 3) = 15.08, p < 0.01), suggesting a seasonal variation in the frequency of seizure occurrences. Comparing days with seizures with days without seizures revealed that days with seizures were characterized by higher average temperature (no seizure = 12.41°C and seizure = 17.25°C; p < 0.01), lower day-to-day changes