Prevalence of post-stroke seizures in Srinagarind Hospital.

OBJECTIVE: Post-stroke seizures in Thailand have not been studied. Thus, the authors' main objective was to assess the prevalence of post-stroke seizures and the secondary objective was to determine the factors associated with post-stroke seizures and mortality after stroke. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This was a retrospective, descriptive study. The population included stroke patients admitted to Srinagarind Hospital between 2000 and 2004. The patients were 15 years of age and older. The authors reviewed medical records, mailed out a questionnaire, and conducted telephone interviews. RESULTS: The present study included 372 patients with stroke; of whom 15.6% had the seizures after the stroke. The length of follow-up was at least 5 years. Generalized tonic-clonic seizures were the most common type of post-stroke seizures. The time from the onset of stroke to the seizures was mostly (60.3%) less than 2 weeks (i.e., early post-stroke seizures). The associated factors of post-stroke seizures were non-dyslipidemia (p = 0.0007), intracerebral hemorrhage (p = 0.015), and lesions at cortical area (p = 0.05). The overall mortality rate at the time of the present study was 39.5%, 7.5% at 30 days and 22.8% at 1 year. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of post-stroke seizures was higher than in previous studies but the associated factors of post-stroke seizures were similar.