Predisposing Factors of Seizure in Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department; a Brief Report

Introduction: Identifying predisposing factors of seizure can be somewhat helpful in preventing it from occurring. Objective: The present study has been designed aiming to assess the frequency of predisposing factors of seizure in patients visiting the emergency department (ED). Methods: The present prospective cross-sectional study was performed on adult patients presenting to ED following seizure during 1 year. Known or probable predisposing risk factors for seizure were extracted from various studies and were asked from patients or their relatives during history taking and clinical examination. Results: Finally, 246 seizure patients with the mean age of 38.8 ± 18.3 (18 – 92) years were included (68.7% male). Most patients were in the 18–29 years age group (41.1%), had an educational level less than high school diploma (59.8%), and were unemployed (47.8%). Among the predisposing factors of seizure, emotional stress with 107 (43.7%) cases, insomnia with 44 (17.9%), and irregular use of antiepileptic medications with 36 (14.6%) cases were the most common predisposing factors, respectively. In 43.5% of the patients, no identified predisposing factor was found. Insomnia (p = 0.002), stress (p 0.001), and substance abuse (p 0.001) were the most important predisposing factors of seizure in individuals less than 60 years old. In addition, being in the menstruation period was also shown to be a predisposing risk factor for women aged less than 60 years (p = 0.002). Conclusion: Emotional stress, insomnia, and irregular use of antiepileptic medication were the most important predisposing factors of seizure in the studied patients. In more than 40% of patients presenting to ED following seizure, no predisposing factor was found.