Abstracts

Rationale: Stroke is the most common cause of seizures among the elderly.Epidemiological data showan increasing number of post-glioticseizure among 60 years old and above yet there are only limited studies characterizing seizuresin this sector of the society. OBJECTIVES: To describe the clinical features and characteristics of post stroke seizures with onset after 60 years of age.  Methods: All admitted patients at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center aged 60 years old and above having first seizure between January 2015 and December 2016, were identified through the hospital data base. Hospital records of the 53 known cases were reviewed.  Results: Almost half of the post-stroke seizures during the study period occurred in patients aged 60 years old and above (53 out of 107 or 49.5%). The overall incidence of seizures among the elderly after stroke is 6.4% (n = 822). About 72% of the patients (n=38) had ischemic stroke while 28% (n=15) had hemorrhagic infarctions. Stroke location was mostly cortical (49.1%) or subcortical (30.2%). Seizures were predominantly either myoclonic or focal with dyscognitive features.Electroencephalogram(EEG) results showed that 34.4% of the patients had generalized slowing while 31.3% had normal EEG findings. Low serum sodium was seen in 28.3% of the patients and infection in 34%. Majority of the seizures were controlled with single epileptic medication while 6 of the 53(11.33%) cases required multiple medications, 4 (7.54 %) of which manifested as status epilepticus.  Conclusions: Incidence of post gliotic seizures among the elderly in the study population is comparable to those in international studies. Follow up studies regarding the quality of life, treatment and prophylaxis of post –stroke amongst the elderly are recommended. Funding: NONE