DOES PHYSICAL EXERCISE INFLUENCE THE OCCURRENCE OF EPILEPTIFORM EEG DISCHARGES IN CHILDREN

Purpose: To determine if, and how, epileptiform EEG discharges in chil dren were influenced by physical exercise. Methods: Twenty-six childre n with intractable partial and generalized epilepsy exercised during v ideo-telemetry recording, aiming at exhaustion after similar to 10 min . Results: During the exercise, epileptiform discharges decreased in 2 0 of 26 children (17 children had at least 25% reduction) and showed a rebound increase after the exercise (17 of 26 children) compared to b aseline conditions. This exercise-induced reduction in epileptiform di scharges reached statistical significance only in the 16 patients with localization-related epilepsy. Five patients showed an atypical EEG r esponse to exercise with either unchanged or increased epileptiform ac tivity while exercising. As compared to the other patients, these 5 ch ildren had experienced frequent clinical seizures during or immediatel y after exercise in their leisure time. Conclusions: In the majority o f the tested children, epileptiform EEG discharges decreased during ex ercise. ''Exercise-EEG'' may be a helpful diagnostic tool to identify patients who are disposed to have exercise-induced seizures.