Seizures in Children with SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Epidemiological, Clinical and Neurophysiological Characterization

Autor: Antonia Pascarella, Marco Maglione, Selvaggia Lenta, Elisa Sciorio, Raffaele Mancusi, Celeste Tucci, Francesca Angrisani, Sabrina Acierno, Camilla Calì, Vincenzo Tipo, Antonietta Giannattasio
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Children, Vol 9, Iss 12, p 1923 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2227-9067
DOI: 10.3390/children9121923
Popis: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may present with a wide variety of symptoms, including neurological manifestations. We investigated clinical, demographic, laboratory, neurophysiological and imaging characteristics of SARS-CoV-2-positive children with seizures and analyzed differences between children admitted during the periods with prevalent circulation of the Alpha/Delta and Omicron variants, respectively. Patients’ characteristics were analyzed according to the presence or absence of seizures and then according to the SARS-CoV-2 variants. Five-hundred and four SARS-CoV-2-positive patients were included: 93 (18.4%) with seizures and 411 (81.6%) without. Patients with seizures were older, had more commonly an underlying epilepsy and had more frequently altered C-reactive protein than those without seizures. Electroencephalography was abnormal in 5/38 cases. According to the SARS-CoV-2 variant, seizures were recorded in 4.7% of the total number of hospitalized patients during the Alpha/Delta period, and in 16.9% of patients admitted during the Omicron period. During the Alpha/Delta variants, seizures were more commonly observed in patients with epilepsy compared to those observed during the Omicron period. Our findings suggest that although SARS-CoV-2 may potentially trigger seizures, they are generally not severe and do not require intensive care admission.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals