Impact of epilepsy on the risk of hospital-treated injuries in Finnish children

Liisi Ripatti; Laura Puustinen; Päivi Rautava; Mari Koivisto; Leena Haataja

doi:10.1016/j.ebr.2023.100587

Impact of epilepsy on the risk of hospital-treated injuries in Finnish children

Epilepsy Behav Rep. 2023 Jan 16:21:100587. doi: 10.1016/j.ebr.2023.100587. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Liisi Ripatti¹, Laura Puustinen^{2

3}, Päivi Rautava^{2

3}, Mari Koivisto⁴, Leena Haataja⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatric Surgery, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
² Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
³ Turku Clinical Research Centre, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁵ Children's Hospital, Pediatric Research Centre, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

Abstract

Objectives: To study the effect of epilepsy on the risk of injury in children.

Methods: All first-born singleton children (n = 133055) born in 2001 - 2006 in Finland were included. Data was collected from national registers up to the first hospital-treated injury during the five years following the onset of epilepsy. Four matched controls were chosen for every subject.

Results: Epilepsy had been diagnosed in 0.66 % of children. During follow-up, 12 % of 884 children with epilepsy and 9 % of 3536 controls were hospitalized for injuries (HR 1.387 [95 % CI 1.115 - 1.725]; p = 0.0033). Risk for injuries was higher in boys than girls (p = 0.0057). Mean age at the first injury was 6.8 years (SD 3.3, median 7, range 0-13) in subjects and 7.2 years (SD 3.2, median 8, range 1-13) in controls (p = 0.272). The rate of hospitalization did not differ according to the type of epilepsy. The risks of subjects compared to controls were not significantly different concerning the nature of injury or survival.

Conclusions: Children with epilepsy are at increased risk for hospital-treated injuries. The spectrum of injuries and the risk for death due to injuries are not different in children with and without epilepsy.

Keywords: Child; Focal epilepsy; Generalized epilepsy; Injury; Prevalence; Trauma.