Epidemiology of epilepsy in Buskerud County: emphasasing clinical and psychosocial aspects of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy
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- Institutt for klinisk medisin [10699]
Abstract
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, affecting people of all ages. Among epilepsies starting in youth, juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is the most common. The cause of JME is unknown, but it is thought to involve neuronal networks within the frontal lobes, networks which are important to decision-making and adaptation of behaviour. The aim of the present thesis was to assess epilepsy prevalence and aetiology in a Norwegian county, and to investigate whether there was an excess of risk-taking behaviour in a large and representative group of people with JME. The prevalence of epilepsy in Buskerud was 0.65%, and the prevalence of JME was 0.06%. People with JME had higher rates of police charges, use of illicit recreational drugs, and smoking prior to the age of 18 than a control group of people with other types of epilepsy. People with JME were more often victims of violence, and more often quitted their antiepileptic medication against medical advice. The present thesis provides evidence of a risk-taking behavioural profile in JME, supporting the hypothesis of disease-generating mechanisms involving networks within the frontal lobes. Furthermore, we found JME to be more common than previously reported, while the overall prevalence of epilepsy was comparable to that of previous studies.List of papers
Paper I. Syvertsen M, Nakken KO, Edland A, Hansen G, Hellum MK, Koht J. Prevalence and etiology of epilepsy in a Norwegian county – a population based study. Epilepsia 2015;56:699-706. doi: 10.1111/epi.12972. The article is not available in DUO due to publisher restrictions. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/epi.12972 |
Paper II. Syvertsen M, Hellum MK, Hansen G, Edland A, Nakken KO, Selmer KK, Koht J. Prevalence of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy in people < 30 years of age – a population based study in Norway. Epilepsia 2017;58:105-112. doi: 10.1111/epi.13613. The article is not available in DUO due to publisher restrictions. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/epi.13613 |
Paper III. Syvertsen M, Fløgstad I, Enger U, Landmark CJ, Koht J. Antiepileptic drug withdrawal in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica. 2019;139:192-198. doi: 10.1111/ane.13042. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/ane.13042 |
Paper IV. Syvertsen M, Selmer K, Enger U, Nakken KO, Pal DK, Smith A, Koht J. Psychosocial complications in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Epilepsy & Behavior 2019;90:122-128. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2018.11.022. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2018.11.022 |
Paper V. Syvertsen M, Koht J, Selmer K, Enger U, Pal DK, Smith A. Behavioral impulsivity correlates with active myoclonic jerks in genetic generalized epilepsy. (Manuscript submitted to Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 16th Jan. 2019.) To be published. The paper is not available in DUO awaiting publishing. |