Ketogenic diet and growth in Chinese infants with refractory epilepsy.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the impact of 12 months of ketogenic dietary treatment (KDT) on growth in Chinese infants with refractory epilepsy. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: The KDT group included patients who were divided into groups A (age 6-12 months), B (12-24 months) and C (24-36 months). The normal group included infants aged approximately 6-12 months, 12-24 months and 24-36 months who were classified into groups A1, B1 and C1, respectively. Data on height, weight, aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TGs), zinc, iron, calcium, magnesium, and haemoglobin (Hb) were extracted from the medical records. Then, we compared the impacts of 12 months of KDT on growth. RESULTS: Forty-one patients were included in the KDT group, and 90 infants were included in the normal group. The overall prevalence of underweight (WAZ <-2 SD), stunting (HAZ <-2 SD), wasting (BAZ <-2 SD), and overweight/obesity (BAZ ≥2 SD) were relatively lower in the A and B groups. The prevalence of anaemia in group A was significantly higher than that in group A1. No significant differences were observed in the KDT groups with regard to HDL, LDL, AST, ALT, iron, calcium, magnesium, or zinc. A greater than 50% reduction in weekly seizure frequency was evident in 100% of group A, 78.6% of group B and 77.8% of group C. CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed that patients less than 2 years old who received KDT maintained appropriate growth at the 12-month follow-up.