Potential use of leukocytosis and anion gap elevation in differentiating psychogenic nonepileptic seizures from epileptic seizures
Abstract
Epileptic seizures (ES) and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) can be difficult to differentiate from each other in the emergency department (ED) setting. We have previously shown that the anion gap (AG) can help differentiate between ES and PNES in the ED. In this study, we explored whether additionally considering leukocytosis can help better differentiate between ES and PNES. We screened a total of 1354 subjects seen in the ED of a tertiary care medical center; 27 PNES and 27 ES patients were identified based on clinical description and subsequent electroencephalography (EEG). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to model the association between ES, leukocytosis, and AG. Our results indicated that within 9 hours after the index event, serum AG (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.07) and white blood cell (WBC) count (aOR 1.61) were both independently associated with ES. We derived an equation to help differentiate between ES and PNES: 1.5*AG+WBC. A score > 24.8 indicated a > 90% likelihood of ES. A score < 15.5 indicated a < 10% likelihood of ES (ie, the alternate diagnosis of PNES should be considered). This study for the first time provides evidence to help differentiate PNES and ES utilizing acidosis and leukocytosis.Source
Epilepsia Open. 2019 Jan 30;4(1):210-215. doi: 10.1002/epi4.12301. eCollection 2019 Mar. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1002/epi4.12301Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/40994PubMed ID
30868134Related Resources
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© 2019 The Authors.. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.Distribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1002/epi4.12301
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as © 2019 The Authors.. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.