What Happens to Children who have Rolandic Epilepsy Later in Life?

In the February 24, 2014, issue of the journal Neurology ahead of press, Drs. Camfield and colleagues from Canada publish an interesting analysis where they identify children who had had benign rolandic epilepsy in Nova Scotia population cohort of childhood onset epilepsy. They reviewed the charts of children who had their epilepsy onset between the years 1977 and 1985 and did followup in the years 2010 to 2013 with a chart review and a telephone interview with people older than the age of 21 years to assess how these kids were with regards to general life outcomes.

• Of the 692 incident epilepsy cases, 42 children, or 6%, developed rolandic epilepsy.
• Thirty-two, or 76%, were contacted when they were older than 21 years.
• Overall, all had epilepsy remission and were off of anti-seizure drug treatment for almost 21 years.
• There were two minor injuries from seizures and only one death reported which had nothing to do with the seizure.
• Overall, 41% had more than one of seven adverse social outcomes. Those who did not complete high school were more likely to have parents with low academic achievement and/or low income.
• The investigators concluded that adult social outcomes for children with rolandic epilepsy are remarkably better than for those with other major epilepsies.