Reader response: Clinical risk factors in SUDEP: A nationwide population-based case-control study
Nitin K.Sethi, Associate Professor of Neurology, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center (New York, NY)
Submitted December 16, 2019
I read with interest Sveinsson et al.’s1 population based, case-control study examining clinical risk factors in SUDEP. Why SUDEP occurs in some patients with poorly controlled generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) and not others is still unknown. Likely no one clinical risk factor is sufficient by itself to cause SUDEP; rather, it is the perfect storm during which a rare simultaneous coming together of multiple clinical risk factors leads to SUDEP. So, while it may not be possible to achieve better seizure control in some patients with refractory generalized epilepsy, the incidence of SUDEP may still be lowered by the simple intervention of close nocturnal supervision by a bedpartner.
Disclosure
The author reports no relevant disclosures. Contact journal@neurology.org for full disclosures.
Reference
Sveinsson O, Andersson T, Mattsson P, Carlsson S, Tomson T. Clinical risk factors in SUDEP: A nationwide population-based case-control study. Neurology. 2019 Epub Dec 12.
I read with interest Sveinsson et al.’s1 population based, case-control study examining clinical risk factors in SUDEP. Why SUDEP occurs in some patients with poorly controlled generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) and not others is still unknown. Likely no one clinical risk factor is sufficient by itself to cause SUDEP; rather, it is the perfect storm during which a rare simultaneous coming together of multiple clinical risk factors leads to SUDEP. So, while it may not be possible to achieve better seizure control in some patients with refractory generalized epilepsy, the incidence of SUDEP may still be lowered by the simple intervention of close nocturnal supervision by a bedpartner.
Disclosure
The author reports no relevant disclosures. Contact journal@neurology.org for full disclosures.
Reference