Background: Seizures are a frequent complication of strokes. The initial severity of the stroke is a risk factor for both seizure occurrence and poor functional recovery.
Aim: To determine whether epilepsy has a negative impact on functional recovery or is just a proxy for the initial severity of the stroke.
Patients and methods: We conducted a monocentric retrospective case-control study in 408 consecutive patients hospitalized in the neurological rehabilitation department of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital for rehabilitation of a recent stroke between 1999 and 2019. We matched 1:1 stroke patients with and without seizures according to numerous variables that may influence the outcome: type of stroke (ischemic vs hemorrhagic (ICH)), type of endovascular treatment performed (thrombolysis, thrombectomy), exact location of the stroke (arterial territory for ischemic strokes, lobar territory for ICH), extent of the stroke, side of the stroke, and age at the time of stroke. Two criteria were used to judge the impact on neurological recovery: the change in modified Rankin score between entry and the discharge from the rehabilitation department, and the length of stay. Seizures were divided into early (within 7 days of stroke) and late (after 7 days) seizures.
Results: We accurately matched 110 stroke patients with and without seizures. Compared to seizure-free matched stroke patients, stroke patients with late seizures had a poorer neurological functional recovery in terms of Rankin score evolution (p = 0.011*) and length of stay (p = 0.004*). The occurrence of early seizures had no significant impact on functional recovery criteria.
Conclusion: Late seizures, that is, stroke-related epilepsy, have a negative impact on early rehabilitation, whereas early symptomatic seizures do not negatively impact functional recovery. These results reinforce the recommendation not to treat early seizures.
Keywords: Early seizures; late seizures; rehabilitation; stroke.