A study suggests that many autistic children also suffer from intractable epilepsy.
Source: Friday, April 22, 2011
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A study suggests that many autistic children also suffer from refractory epilepsy: MedlinePlus
research suggests that the seizures tend to start earlier in childhood WEDNESDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News / HolaDoctor) - Many people with autism also have epilepsy unresponsive to treatment, according to a new study suggests.
The researchers studied the medical records of 127 children and adults with autism in three 49 years of age who had experienced one or more seizures. The patients had been referred to the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYU in New York City in a period of twenty years because they were diagnosed or suspected epilepsy may suffer from the disease, said Dr. Orrin Devinsky, lead author the study. 
was found that about 34 percent of patients suffered from intractable epilepsy, which means that their continued seizures despite medication. Some also underwent surgery, vagus nerve stimulation, in which an implanted electrical device to stimulate nerve passing near the carotid artery in the neck.
Another 28 percent had no seizures after treatment.
For the remaining 39 percent of patients, the researchers did not have enough information to determine if their seizures were resistant to treatment or not.
"This highlights that epilepsy is common in autism. In a large percentage of cases, epilepsy is resistant to treatment," said Devinsky, professor of neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry at the School of Medicine Langone and director of the NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYU.
"Epilepsy is a bad condition. Recurrent seizures can damage the brain, causing structural damage to the body and be fatal over time," he added.
The findings appear in the May issue of the journal Epilepsy.
The researchers found other differences between those who suffered from intractable epilepsy and other autistic children who had experienced seizures.
In general, the average age of first seizure was eight years depending on the study. But medical records suggest that patients with resistant epilepsy treatment tended to have more seizures in early childhood, about six years than people whose epilepsy responded to treatment, which were more or less at age eleven.
autistic and epileptic children also tended to have more disability than those who were not epileptic. About 54 percent of patients suffering from intractable epilepsy had delayed motor skills, compared to 35 percent of those with treatable epilepsy. In addition, those with refractory epilepsy also reported more delays in language (72 vs. 65 percent), and were slightly more likely to experience developmental regression, the study suggested.
experts have long known that autism autism also have epilepsy, said Clara Lajonchere, vice president of clinical programs at Autism Speaks. Previous research suggests that about thirty percent of people with autism also have epilepsy, while recent research suggests that the prevalence may be even higher.
A study published in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Child Neurology found that 39 percent of autistic people who had donated brain tissue had epilepsy. "It seems to have a higher mortality in people with autism and epilepsy compared with only are autistic," said Lajonchere, lead author of the study.
Autistic people are more likely than the general population to experience "sudden unexplained death," he said, adding that it is likely that some of these deaths are due to seizures.
Devinsky said he was not fully understood why the seizures can be fatal, but are believed to interfere with breathing, brain function and heart rhythms.
Both experts agreed we need much more research on epilepsy and autism, including possible evaluation of epilepsy in children diagnosed with autism.
"We are faced with cognitive problems, social and emotional," Devinsky said. "And now adds epilepsy. This raises the general problem of autism."
Article by HealthDay
HispaniCare SOURCES: Orrin Devinsky, MD, professor, neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry, NYU Langone School of Medicine, and Director, NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, New York City; Lajonchere Clara, Ph.D., vice president, Clinical Programs, Autism Speaks, New York City, May 1, 2011, Epilepsy
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