Introduction
Absence seizures due to secondary bilateral synchrony may represent a manifestation of frontal seizures, indistinguishable from primary absence epilepsy, but with different prognosis and management. There are limited epidemiological studies on frontal absences epilepsy (FAE) within childhood absence epilepsy.
Objective
To describe the epidemiology of FAE in childhood and compare the characteristics, clinical progression, and pharmacological response with primary absence epilepsy.
Patients and methods
A retrospective study was conducted on children under 14 years diagnosed with absence epilepsy between 2013 and 2022 at a tertiary hospital. Demographic data, number, duration and types of associated seizures, presence of frontal EEG focality with or without relation to generalised discharges, pharmacological response, and neuroimaging findings were comparatively analysed.
Results
A total of 94 patients with absence epilepsy were included, with a median age of 8.6 years (range: 6-10.1 years; 49 females/45 males). Of these, 84% presented exclusively with absence seizures. Hyperventilation induced seizures in 94.2%, while photoparoxysmal responses occurred in 5.3%. EEG focal activity was observed in 63/94 patients, and in 45/94, it was frontal. In 14/94 cases (14.8%), frontal focal activity preceded the generalised spike-wave discharge. Bivariate analysis showed no significant differences in age, time to consultation, psychomotor development or behavioural alterations, association with other seizure types, or seizure triggers. However, the number of absences per day was significantly lower in FAE patients (p = 0.004), and the need for combination therapy was higher in both bivariate (p = 0.005) and multivariate analyses (p = 0.035).
Conclusions
FAE represents a substantial subset of absence epilepsy with seizures identical in morphology, age at onset, and duration, but characterised by fewer seizures per day and poorer treatment response.
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