Factors associated with seizure severity among children with epilepsy in Northern Nigeria.

Objective: To describe how seizure severity in children with epilepsy may be affected by certain socio-demographic and clinical variables.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: At the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, Nigeria.

Participants: Sixty children and adolescents who were being followed up for seizure disorder at the child neurology clinic.

Intervention: Information on socio-demographic characteristics was obtained with a questionnaire, details of neurological co-morbidities were extracted from the participants' records, and seizure severity was assessed with the National Hospital Seizure Severity Score 3 tool.

Main outcome measure: Chi-square test was used to establish the relationship between categorical variables, while the Independent t-test was used in describing the differences between means. Simple linear regression was calculated to assess the predictability of seizure severity.

Result: The median age was ten years (IQR = 6-13 years), with a male dominance (1.5:1). The Seizure Severity Score (SSS) ranged between 3 and 24 units, with a mean of 12.22 ± 4.29 units. The only characteristic that had a significant association with SSS on bivariate analysis was the "presence of co-morbidities" (p=0.019). A simple linear regression revealed that the presence of a neurological co-morbidity predicted an increase in the SSS by 2.67 units. [R2 = 0.091, F (1, 58)= 5.837, p = 0.019. β = 2.67, t= 2.42, p= 0.019.].

Conclusion: This study shows that neurological co-morbidities predict worsening seizure severity. This knowledge may influence prognostication and the charting of a treatment trajectory.

Funding: No external funding.