Epilepsy following neonatal encephalopathy—Future directions

We appreciate the thoughtful review of our publication in the recent correspondence from Lucia Fusco.^{1, 2} Our study investigated the incidence of later epilepsy in full term infants with neonatal encephalopathy (NE) who underwent continuous conventional electroencephalography (cEEG) monitoring during the neonatal period. A secondary objective was to identify potential predictors of later epilepsy. While our sixteen-year study period provided valuable insights into long term outcomes, we acknowledge the inherent limitations of its retrospective design.

The main strength of our study is that all infants underwent cEEG monitoring during the neonatal period, which remains the gold standard for neonatal seizure detection.³

Our study highlights the importance of cEEG monitoring in infants with NE and its potential role in predicting later epilepsy. Future research should focus on prospective studies in larger cohorts incorporating cEEG monitoring alongside advanced neuroimaging and extended genetic analysis.

CMS is a PhD candidate funded by the Health Research Board (CDA-2018-008) This research was also supported by a Wellcome Trust Innovator Award (209325/Z/17/Z) and partly supported by Merck's Life Science Community Engagement Programme—Scientific Research. No role was played by the funder/sponsor in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

None of the authors has any conflict of interest to disclose. We confirm that we have read the journal's position on issues involved in ethical publication and affirm that this report is consistent with those guidelines.