SEIZURE ETIOLOGIES IN A VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL-CENTER POPULATION

The purpose of this study is to determine the etiologies of seizures i n a Veterans' Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) population. We retrospecti vely reviewed the records of all VAMC patients discharged from the Nor thport VAMC: who carried a diagnosis of recent or prior seizures. We d ivided cases into those who received at least one inpatient or outpati ent psychiatric evaluation (n = 51) and nonpsychiatric cases (II = 38) . Overall etiologies for seizures were substance abuse (22; 24.7%), id iopathic or indeterminate causes (15;16.9%), stroke (18; 20.2%), head trauma (14; 15.7%), and other causes (15; 16.9%). Head trauma and idio pathic/indeterminate causes were significantly more common in the psyc hiatric group (p <.001) while stroke was more common in the nonpsychia tric group (p <.001). Substance abuse, stroke, and head trauma are the most common identifiable etiologies of seizures in a VAMC population.