ABSTRACT

Conclusion:

Our study demonstrated that the most common disorders that cause seizures in newborns are hypoglycemia, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, and hypocalcemia, and one half of the patients did not require any anticonvulsant drug. When a secondary drug was required, it was usually phenobarbital. Preterm newborns usually did not require secondary drugs.

Results:

Forty-one out of 1322 patients hospitalized at the Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit were diagnosed with seizures. Considering gender, 63.4% were male, and 80% of the patients were full term. The mean birthweight was 3066 grams, and the average delivery was at 37.9 weeks. The most common etiologic factors were hypoglycemia (14.6%), hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (12.2%), and hypocalcemia (12.2%). Convulsion types were the following: unclassified type (29.3%), focal tonic (26.8%), myoclonic (19.5%), autonomic (19.5%), and focal clonic (17.1%). Phenobarbital was used as a first-choice drug in 82.6% of patients. A secondary anticonvulsant drug was required in 30% patients, and phenytoin was used in 71.4% patients. Comparing the data of the full term and preterm subgroups, the seizure etiology, type of convulsion, convulsion time, and medications used to control the seizure were not different. However, preterm patients did not require a secondary antiepileptic drug, as opposed to term patients.

Methods:

Patients hospitalized at the Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit between December 2010 and January 2015 and diagnosed with seizures were included in the study. Obtained data were compared with regard to the term and preterm subgroups. Definition analysis, Pearson’s chi-squared test, and independent t-test were used as statistical methods.

Objective:

The aim of our study was to evaluate the etiology and type of seizures in newborns, and to compare the efficacy of various anticonvulsant drugs.