Convulsive status epilepticus in children in Mozambique: Is there a treatment gap?

Abstract

Background: Optimal care of Convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) can be related to multiple barriers in resource-limited countries. Objectives and methods: Since limited data of CSE management are available from South-East Africa, we performed a retrospective analysis of the electronic records of pediatric patients with CSE admitted to the Maputo Central hospital from January 2016 until April 2019. Results: Our database consisted out of 39 patients. The average age was 5.15 (range 0.3-13.8) years and demographic characteristics did not show a relation to CSE characteristics or outcomes. However, the total stay in the hospital was negatively correlated with age (p=0.0314). Moreover, 14 patients needed to be admitted to the IC, which was correlated to having generalized motor seizures (p=0.0253), and a relatively higher need for a second AED to control their CSE (p=0.0131). Regarding AED use, the first AED was a IV benzodiazepine (BZD: midazolam (MIDA) or diazepam (DIAZ)) or IV phenytoin (PHEN) when BZDs were not available. There was no statistically significant difference between the efficacy of MIDA vs. DIAZ. Eleven patients received PHEN as a second-line drug, of which only two patients needed an additional dose of PHEN. None of the patients died and five patients (13.2%) had an extra comorbidity after CSE. Conclusions: Although limited AEDs were available in our study, compared to more AEDs in other developing and developed countries, we report the successful cessation of CSE in the majority of cases. We recommend strategies to improve prehospital management such as the use of non-IV BZD use, to limit the need for patients to be admitted to the IC and thereby potentially decreasing the number of AEDs, morbidity and hospital duration. Moreover, our data underline the conversion to second-line AEDs (PHEN) to be adequate in nearly all patients.