EARLY PREDICTORS OF REFRACTORY EPILEPSY IN ORAN, ALGERIA: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Purpose: The goal of this retrospective study is to identify early predictors of intractable epilepsy. Methods: This case-control study conducted from January 2007 to December 2012 included 106 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy and 212 controls with well-controlled epilepsy. Univariate and multivariate analysis of predictive factors of refractoriness were performed using logistic regression. Results: In the final model, four factors significantly associated with intractable epilepsy were identified: aetiology (p = 0.001) high initial seizure frequency (p < 10-4), status epilepticus (p = 0.002), and initial myoclonic seizures (p < 10-4). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the risk of developing drug resistant epilepsy could be predicted at an early stage of the disease by some clinical features. This could help the clinicians to make the best therapy decisions and improve patient's quality of life.