Objective:

The aim of this study was to identify patient reported seizure triggers in Persons with Epilepsy (PWE). Along with identifying daily life factors, we also aimed to find the frequency of patients whose seizures were induced by these experiences.

Background:

Extrinsic factors that trigger seizures have previously been reported in PWE. However, the specific triggers and their frequency have not been as thoroughly studied.

Design/Methods:

This was a cross-sectional retrospective data analysis of 2455 PWE treated at a tertiary level epilepsy center. Patients diagnosed with either focal, generalized or combined focal and generalized epilepsy were included in the study. We analyzed patient demographics, seizure triggers and number of patients whose seizures were triggered by these factors.

Results:

There are currently 2455 patients in the database out of which 1975 are diagnosed with either focal, generalized or combined focal and generalized epilepsy. These patients are 48.2% male and 51.8% female, mean age 39.72±22.48 years. 1336 (67.6%) patients were diagnosed with focal, 618 (31.2%) patients were diagnosed with generalized, and 21 (1.06%) patients were diagnosed with combined focal and generalized epilepsy. Out of these 1975 patients, 323 (16.3%) patients reported daily life factors that acted as seizure triggers. A variety of factors were found to induce seizures in these patients. When identifying the frequency of these factors, the commonly reported triggers were missed medications (4.5%), stress (3.9%) and sleep deprivation (1.9%).

Conclusions:

Our findings show a variety of daily life factors act as seizure triggers in patients with epilepsy. Along with the anticipated factors such as missed medication and sleep deprivation, patient reported stress was found to be the second most common seizure trigger. Further research needs to be done to identify these particular correlations and counsel patients regarding seizure exacerbating factors and identify potential mitigating strategies.