Discontinuation of Antiepileptic Drugs in Children with Epilepsy: 2-year follow-up

Background: We attempted to identify the factors associated with seizure control and recurrence after 2-year remission in children with epilepsy. Methods and Patients: We retrospectively investigated clinical features of epileptic children with and without relapse over a 2-year period following discontinuation of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Features of EEGs and clinical findings were compared among 44 children with relapse and 66 children without relapse using both bivariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Clinical features that demonstrated strong univariate association with seizure relapse included: history of status epilepticus, symptomatic focal epilepsy, and abnormal EEG at the time of AED withdrawal. Conclusions: Our data indicated that there are three important predictors of seizure relapse: history of status epilepticus, symptomatic focal epilepsy, and abnormal EEG at the time of medication withdrawal.