Epileptic Syndromes in Infants and Early Childhood

NCT ID: NCT06223334

Last Updated: 2024-02-28

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Total Enrollment

140 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-10-01

Study Completion Date

2025-10-31

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

To evaluate the different clinical and etiological patterns of epileptic syndromes in infants and early childhood.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Epilepsy is the most common disabling neurological problem among children worldwide, and has a varying prevalence and etiological profile across the life-cycle. Onset of epilepsy prior to two-year age is more common than later in childhood.

It more commonly has a symptomatic cause and poor long-term outcome with respect to seizure-control and cognition. Previous work from India on epilepsy in infants has either focused on a single etiology, on one particular epilepsy syndrome, or on single seizure rather than epilepsy.

A recent prospective, population-based study showed an incidence of 75 per 100 000 live births prior to 6 months and 62 per 100 000 between 6 and 12 months, considerably higher than previous estimates from retrospective studies. These population-based studies are from high-resource countries, and it is noteworthy that acquired epilepsies have a higher incidence in resource-limited populations.

Traditionally, syndromes have been defined primarily by electroclinical features; however, in the last two decades, gene discovery in the epilepsies has allowed cohorts of cases with a shared genetic etiology to be studied. Consistent electroclinical phenotypes have emerged, with examples including CDKL5, MeCP2, PCDH19, STXBP1, and inv dup 15.

An epileptic syndrome is "an epileptic disorder characterised by a cluster of signs and symptoms customarily occurring together; these include such items as the type of seizure, aetiology, anatomy, precipitating factors, age of onset, severity, chronicity, diurnal and circadian cycling, and sometimes prognosis. However, in contradistinction to a disease, a syndrome does not necessarily have a common aetiology and prognosis.

An epilepsy syndrome is "a complex of signs and symptoms that define a unique epilepsy condition. This must involve more than just the seizure type; thus, for instance, frontal lobe seizures per se do not constitute a syndrome.

Furthermore, some structural, metabolic, immune, and infectious etiologies also have characteristic electroclinical phenotypes. Therefore, epilepsies due to specific genetic, structural, metabolic, immune, or infectious etiologies may also meet criteria for a syndrome, when they are associated with consistent electroclinical features and have management and prognostic implications. Epilepsies in children younger than 3-years-old can be classified by syndrome in 54% of patients and by etiology in 54%, when the latest neuroimaging, metabolic, and gene testing techniques are used. In the group younger than 12 months, etiology could be determined in 64%. By comparison, infants with severe epilepsies beginning before 18 months can be classified with an epilepsy syndrome at presentation in 64%, with the etiology being determined in 67%.

The concept of the "developmental and epileptic encephalopathy" (or DEE) recognizes that in infants presenting with severe early-onset epilepsy, neurodevelopmental comorbidity may be attributable to both the underlying cause and to the adverse effects of uncontrolled epileptic activity.

Children presenting with epilepsy very early in life experience a high burden of cognitive and behavioral comorbidity, and higher rates of drug resistance and mortality, with up to 50% showing global developmental delay 2 years after presentation. Comorbidities are more frequent among children who develop drug-resistant seizures and those with a high seizure burden.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Epileptic Syndromes

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Observational Model Type

CASE_ONLY

Study Time Perspective

CROSS_SECTIONAL

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

GTCS (generalized Tonic Clonic Seizures)

No intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

observational study to evaluate the different clinical and etiological patterns of epileptic syndromes in infants and early childhood.

Tonic Seizures

No intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

observational study to evaluate the different clinical and etiological patterns of epileptic syndromes in infants and early childhood.

Clonic Seizures

No intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

observational study to evaluate the different clinical and etiological patterns of epileptic syndromes in infants and early childhood.

Myoclonic Seizures

No intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

observational study to evaluate the different clinical and etiological patterns of epileptic syndromes in infants and early childhood.

Absence Seizures

No intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

observational study to evaluate the different clinical and etiological patterns of epileptic syndromes in infants and early childhood.

Focal Seizures

No intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

observational study to evaluate the different clinical and etiological patterns of epileptic syndromes in infants and early childhood.

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

No intervention

observational study to evaluate the different clinical and etiological patterns of epileptic syndromes in infants and early childhood.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

For each group

* Infants and children diagnosed as epilepsy syndrome (as per International League Against Epilepsy, 2014).
* Infants and children ages ranged between 1 \& 36 months.

Exclusion Criteria

for each group

* Patients with epilepsy less than 1 month and more than 36 months.
* Patients with conditions mimic epilepsy.
* Patients with seizures related to electrolyte disturbances, inborn error of metabolism, mitochondrial diseases, white matter diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, peroxisomal disorders and non-syndromic epileptic children.
Minimum Eligible Age

1 Month

Maximum Eligible Age

36 Months

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

Al-Azhar University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Amir Abdelaal Hasanain Abdelrahman

Assisstant Lecturer

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Amir Abdelaal Hasanain Abdelrahman

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Al-Azhar University

Emad El-Deen Mahmoud Hammad El-Daly

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Assiut University

Mohammed Abo-Alwafa Aladawy

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

Al-Azhar University

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Assiut child university hospital

Asyut, , Egypt

Site Status RECRUITING

AlAzhar university hospital Assiut branch

Asyut, , Egypt

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

Egypt

Central Contacts

Reach out to these primary contacts for questions about participation or study logistics.

Amir Abdelaal Hasanain Abdelrahman

Role: CONTACT

01022086737 ext. 002

Facility Contacts

Find local site contact details for specific facilities participating in the trial.

Maher Farghali

Role: primary

088-2080769 ext. 002

Faculty of Medicine-AlAzhar University Assiut branch

Role: primary

(088)2180445 ext. 002

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

Scheffer IE, Berkovic S, Capovilla G, Connolly MB, French J, Guilhoto L, Hirsch E, Jain S, Mathern GW, Moshe SL, Nordli DR, Perucca E, Tomson T, Wiebe S, Zhang YH, Zuberi SM. ILAE classification of the epilepsies: Position paper of the ILAE Commission for Classification and Terminology. Epilepsia. 2017 Apr;58(4):512-521. doi: 10.1111/epi.13709. Epub 2017 Mar 8.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 28276062 (View on PubMed)

Farghaly WM, Abd Elhamed MA, Hassan EM, Soliman WT, Yhia MA, Hamdy NA. Prevalence of childhood and adolescence epilepsy in Upper Egypt (desert areas). Egypt J Neurol Psychiatr Neurosurg. 2018;54(1):34. doi: 10.1186/s41983-018-0032-0. Epub 2018 Nov 9.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 30532513 (View on PubMed)

Howell KB, Freeman JL, Mackay MT, Fahey MC, Archer J, Berkovic SF, Chan E, Dabscheck G, Eggers S, Hayman M, Holberton J, Hunt RW, Jacobs SE, Kornberg AJ, Leventer RJ, Mandelstam S, McMahon JM, Mefford HC, Panetta J, Riseley J, Rodriguez-Casero V, Ryan MM, Schneider AL, Smith LJ, Stark Z, Wong F, Yiu EM, Scheffer IE, Harvey AS. The severe epilepsy syndromes of infancy: A population-based study. Epilepsia. 2021 Feb;62(2):358-370. doi: 10.1111/epi.16810. Epub 2021 Jan 21.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 33475165 (View on PubMed)

Kharod P, Mishra D, Juneja M. Drug-resistant epilepsy in Indian children at a tertiary-care public hospital. Childs Nerv Syst. 2019 May;35(5):775-778. doi: 10.1007/s00381-019-04084-5. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 30758667 (View on PubMed)

Kolc KL, Sadleir LG, Scheffer IE, Ivancevic A, Roberts R, Pham DH, Gecz J. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 271 PCDH19-variant individuals identifies psychiatric comorbidities, and association of seizure onset and disease severity. Mol Psychiatry. 2019 Feb;24(2):241-251. doi: 10.1038/s41380-018-0066-9. Epub 2018 Jun 11.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 29892053 (View on PubMed)

Symonds JD, Elliott KS, Shetty J, Armstrong M, Brunklaus A, Cutcutache I, Diver LA, Dorris L, Gardiner S, Jollands A, Joss S, Kirkpatrick M, McLellan A, MacLeod S, O'Regan M, Page M, Pilley E, Pilz DT, Stephen E, Stewart K, Ashrafian H, Knight JC, Zuberi SM. Early childhood epilepsies: epidemiology, classification, aetiology, and socio-economic determinants. Brain. 2021 Oct 22;144(9):2879-2891. doi: 10.1093/brain/awab162.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 34687210 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

epilepsy syndromes

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.