Abstract
Genetics and environment likely contribute to the development of medically intractable epilepsy; however, in most patients the specific combination of etiologies remains unknown. Here, we undertook a multicenter retrospective cohort study of sex distribution in pediatric patients undergoing epilepsy surgery and carried out a secondary analysis of the same population subdivided by histopathologic diagnosis. In the multicenter cohort of patients with intractable epilepsy undergoing surgery regardless of etiology (n. = 206), 63% were boys, which is significantly more boys than expected for the general population (Fisher exact two-tailed p. = 0.017). Subgroup analysis found that of the 90 patients with a histopathologic diagnosis of focal cortical dysplasia, 72% were boys, giving an odds ratio (OR) of 2.5 (95% CI, 1.34 to 4.62) for male sex. None of the other etiologies had a male sex predominance. Future studies could examine the biological relevance and potential genetic and pathophysiological mechanisms of this observation.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 121-123 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Epilepsy and Behavior |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2013 |
Keywords
- Epilepsy surgery
- Focal cortical dysplasia
- Gender
- Pediatric epilepsy
- Sex
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neurology
- Clinical Neurology
- Behavioral Neuroscience