Electrographic status epilepticus and neurobehavioral outcomes in critically ill children.

PURPOSE: Electrographic seizures (ESs) and electrographic status epilepticus (ESE) are common in children with acute neurologic conditions in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), and ESE is associated with worse functional and quality-of-life outcomes. As an exploratory study, we aimed to determine if ESE was associated with worse outcomes using more detailed neurobehavioral measures. METHODS: Three hundred children with an acute neurologic condition and altered mental status underwent clinically indicated EEG monitoring and were enrolled in a prospective observational study. We obtained follow-up data from subjects who were neurodevelopmentally normal prior to PICU admission. We evaluated for associations between ESE and adaptive behavior (Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-II, ABAS-II), behavioral and emotional problems (Child Behavior Checklist, CBCL), and executive function (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, BRIEF) using linear regression analyses. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: One hundred thirty-seven of 300 subjects were neurodevelopmentally normal prior to PICU admission. We obtained follow-up data from 36 subjects for the CBCL, 32 subjects for the ABAS-II, and 20 subjects for the BRIEF. The median duration from admission to follow-up was 2.6 years (IQR: 1.2-3.8). There were no differences in the acute care variables (age, sex, mental status category, intubation status, paralysis status, acute neurologic diagnosis category, seizure category, EEG background category, or short-term outcome) between subjects with and without follow-up data for any of the outcome measures. On univariate analysis, significant differences were not identified for CBCL total problem (ES coefficient: -4.1, p = 0.48; ESE coefficient: 8.9, p = 0.13) or BRIEF global executive function (ES coefficient: 2.1, p = 0.78; ESE coefficient: 14.1, p = 0.06) scores, although there were trends toward worse scores in subjects with ESE. On univariate analysis, ESs were not associated with worse scores (coefficient: -21.5, p = 0.051), while ESE (coefficient: -29.7, p = 0.013) was associated with worse ABAS-II adaptive behavioral global composite scores. On multivariate analysis, when compared to subjects with no seizures, both ESs (coefficient: -28, p=0.014) and ESE (coefficient: -36, p = 0.003) were associated with worse adaptive behavioral global composite scores. DISCUSSION: Among previously neurodevelopmentally normal children with acute neurologic disorders, ESs and ESE were associated with worse adaptive behavior and trends toward worse behavioral-emotional and executive function problems. This was a small exploratory study, and the impact of ESs and ESE on these neurobehavioral measures may be clarified by subsequent larger studies. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Status Epilepticus".

Electrographic status epilepticus and long-term outcome in critically ill children.

OBJECTIVE: Electrographic seizures (ES) and electrographic status epilepticus (ESE) are common in children in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with acute neurologic conditions. We aimed to determine whether ES or ESE was associated with worse long-term outcomes. METHODS: Three hundred children with an acute neurologic condition and encephalopathy underwent clinically indicated EEG monitoring and were enrolled in a prospective observational study. We aimed to obtain follow-up data from 137 subjects who were neurodevelopmentally normal before PICU admission. RESULTS: Follow-up data were collected for 60 of 137 subjects (44%) at a median of 2.7 years. Subjects with and without follow-up data were similar in clinical characteristics during the PICU admission. Among subjects with follow-up data, ES occurred in 12 subjects (20%) and ESE occurred in 14 subjects (23%). Multivariable analysis indicated that ESE was associated with an increased risk of unfavorable Glasgow Outcome Scale (Extended Pediatric Version) category (odds ratio 6.36, p = 0.01) and lower Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory scores (23 points lower, p = 0.001). Among subjects without prior epilepsy diagnoses ESE was associated with an increased risk of subsequently diagnosed epilepsy (odds ratio 13.3, p = 0.002). ES were not associated with worse outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Among children with acute neurologic disorders who were reported to be neurodevelopmentally normal before PICU admission, ESE but not ES was associated with an increased risk of unfavorable global outcome, lower health-related quality of life scores, and an increased risk of subsequently diagnosed epilepsy even after adjusting for neurologic disorder category, EEG background category, and age.