Abstract
Objectives: Status epilepticus (SE) is a common life-threatening medical emergency, and its neurological outcome requires prompt recognition and management. The present study aimed to determine the clinical profile and outcome of patients with status epilepticus.
Design: Prospective observational study.
Setting: The study was conducted in intensive care units under Emergency Medicine, General Medicine, Neuro Medicine, and Neurosurgery Departments of a tertiary care centre from March 2018 to September 2019.
Patients and participants: Forty-six status epilepticus patients attending intensive care units under Emergency Medicine, General Medicine, Neuro Medicine, and Neurosurgery Departments of a tertiary care centre were included and followed for 45 days.
Measurements and results: Baseline data on demographics, comorbidities, duration of each episode, number of episodes, treatment, brain imaging findings (computed tomography [CT] and magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]) and other comorbidities. The collected data was analyzed by analysis of variance (Anova) and independent t-test. P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Out of 45 subjects included in the final analysis, 34 (75.6%) survived, and 11 (24.4%) had died during hospitalization. Mean±standard deviation of age was 43.1±1.02. Thirteen (71.1%) had diabetes mellitus as comorbidity. Twenty-four (53.3%) of them had >15 mins of seizure, 22 (48.9%) were in between 5 to 12 of Glasgow coma scale score. Among the study population, the probable etiology was head trauma 5 patients (11%), viral meningoencephalitis 7 patients (15.6%), acute cardiovascular system 9 patients (24.4%), and alcohol withdraw 14 patients (8.9%). Majority of them (18 patients [40%]) required third-line treatment, 33 patients (73.3%) required in hospital ventilator assistance, and 19 patients (42.2%) developed refractory status epilepticus (RSE). The duration of hospital stay was found to be significant for third-line treatment (21.9 days), mechanical ventilation (21.30 days), and RSE (23.8 days) with a p-value of 0.001.
Conclusion: The duration of hospital stay was significantly associated with the findings on brain MRI, the requirement of in-hospital ventilatory support, the treatment given, and the presence of RSE.
Aiswarya M. Nair, Priyadarshini Varadaraj, Sivaprakash Varadan, Vaasanthi Rajendran, Viswanathan Pandurangan, K. Madhavan, Anurag P.
