Publication:

Comprehensive management of seizures in children at a tertiary care hospital: etiology, quality of life and treatment strategies

Background ILAE (International league against epilepsy 2014), defines epilepsy as at least two unprovoked seizures occurring more than 24 hours apart. It is most common neurological disorder in children about 4-5% of them experience at least one seizure in first 16 years of life. Since studies on children with antiepileptic drugs are relatively lower than in adults, the study focuses on prospective observation of etiology, quality of life and therapeutic management of seizure to improve patient care and ensure rational drug therapy through monitoring.

Methods The data was collected from 171 parents or representatives of children who were diagnosed of seizure or epilepsy in a period of 6 months (November 2024 to April 2025). The therapeutic monitoring was performed through medical records and questionnaire that assess type of seizure, maternal factors and neonatal history of children, etiology, quality of life, and drug utilization during emergency, admission and discharge to improve patient care.

Results Monotherapy has been highly preferred on 77% of children and the most common drug used was Clobazam of 45%, phenytoin of 12.8% and SVP of 8.48% were found in prescription pattern analysis. The most common type of seizure was generalized of 44.4%. Higher severity higher impact on quality of life of children.

Conclusions The study suggest the importance to not only abort seizure episodes but also improvise possible post seizure complications by routine monitoring and optimized drug therapy.