EPILEPTIFORM EEG DISCHARGES IN HEALTHY-CHILDREN - PREVALENCE, EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL-CORRELATES, AND GENETIC INFLUENCES

Epileptiform discharges in 8 electrode waking EEGs at rest and during hyperventilation in 1,057 healthy children aged 6-12 years from an ele mentary school were studied: Epileptiform discharges, detected in 53 c hildren (5.0%), consisted of centrotemporal spikes (37 cases), general ized spike and slow wave complexes (10 cases), occipital spikes (2 cas es), frontal spikes (1 case), and a combination of multiple spike and slow wave complexes and focal spikes (2 cases). The occurrence of a po sitive past history of febrile convulsions was higher in children with epileptiform discharges (18.9%) than in those without epileptiform di scharges (9.4%). Using the Rutter scales for teachers and parents, we compared the emotional and behavioral problems of children with epilep tiform EEG discharges with those of children without epileptiform disc harges. No statistically significant differences were noted, indicatin g that the emotional and behavioral problems existing are most probabl y coincidental and not directly related to the epileptiform discharges . A genetic basis for generalized epileptiform discharges was postulat ed because the occurrence of generalized discharges in siblings of pro bands with generalized discharges was higher (4 of 9, 44.4%) than the prevalence in all subjects. However, the occurrence of centrotemporal spikes in the siblings of probands with centrotemporal spikes was not higher (2/38, 5.3%) and an autosomal-dominant genetic factor for centr otemporal spikes in waking EEGs of healthy children could not be confi rmed.