The effect of ketogenic diet escalation in adolescents and adults with drug-resistant epilepsy: a prospective study.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Ketogenic diet (KD) is an accepted and effective treatment modality in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). Different versions of ketogenic diets have been studied, however, the effect of ratio escalation in adolescence and adults has not been previously investigated. METHODS: The current open-labeled interventional study was conducted on 80 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy DRE, 40 patients (intervention group) were exposed to dietary intervention besides their regular antiseizure medication (ASM) and compared to 40 control patients. The intervention group received Ketogenic diet in 21 ratio for 1 month then were divided into 2 subgroups, group A1 continued the 21 ratio for another 2 months while group A2 escalated to 31 dietary regimen. Socio-demographic, anthropometric measurements, epilepsy clinical parameters, and laboratory tests were recorded in addition to safety and tolerability documentation. The response rate was recorded after 1month and 3month. RESULTS: Significant decrease in seizure frequency and severity were detected in Group A1 and A2 patients compared to controls after the 3 month period of intervention with significant improvement of quality of life scores in both subgroups. Both subgroups also showed comparable results regarding their response rate to KD. Better acceptance of diet taste were reported by subgroup A1 with a significantly higher lipid profile detected in subgroup A2. CONCLUSION: KD has a beneficial effect as adjunctive treatment in adolescents and adults with DRE. Escalation from 21 to 31 ratio is associated with less compliance rather than better response in patients with DRE.