Abstract
Objectives: Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is the most common idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE). Stress is considered as one of the common precipitating factor of seizures in patients with various types of epilepsy syndromes. Different regions of the brain, i.e. hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex, thalamus, cerebral cortex, frontal and temporal lobes are reported to get affected in individuals with various kinds of stress and these are the regions which are also implicated in patients with epilepsy. The aim of present study is to determine the stress as a precipitating factor for seizure initiation in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.
Methods: A total 55 JME patients were evaluated to know whether they were subjected to stress or not, if the yes detailed history of stress were collected from the patients and statistically analyzed. Patient selection and diagnosis was based on the criteria of the commission and terminology of the international league against epilepsy. JME cases were diagnosed by experienced Epileptologists on the basis of patient's medical history and on Electro encephalo graphy (EEG). Patients with other neurological trauma, Mental retardation and epilepsy syndrome other than JME were excluded from this study.
Results: Our study results showed 58.2% of patients with seizures were under stress. The females (69.6%) were more prone to seizures due to stress when compared to males (46.9%).
Conclusions: The present study results indicate that the stress is one of the major precipitating factor in initiating seizures in JME. The probable mechanism might be that stress is leading to alterations in the various regions of the brain, which are proven to get affected by stress, which in turn may result in the functional impairment leading to the seizures in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.
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