INFLUENCE OF AN EVACUATION IN FEBRUARY 1995 IN THE NETHERLANDS ON THESEIZURE FREQUENCY IN PATIENTS WITH EPILEPSY - A CONTROLLED-STUDY

Purpose: Stress is often noted by patients to be a precipitating facto r in causing seizures. No precise data are, however, available. In 199 5 for 250,000 inhabitants in the Netherlands, a serious life event occ urred within a period of seven days. An extreme high water level in th e province of Gelderland, with the possibility of a flood, made the go vernment decide to evacuate people and their livestock. This retrospec tive study investigated the influence of this forced evacuation on the seizure frequency of patients with epilepsy, compared with patients o f the same age and type of epilepsy living outside the evacuation area at the time of the threatening flood. Methods: Information regarding epilepsy syndrome, seizure type, and frequency was derived from seizur e diaries and medical histories of 30 evacuated patients and 30 matche d control patients. Results: Of the 30 evacuees, eight showed an incre ase and one a decrease in seizure frequency during or shortly after th e evacuation period, compared with one and zero control patients, resp ectively. These results proved to be statistically significant (p < 0. 05). Conclusions: Our data support the hypothesis that there is a rela tion, albeit small, between a stressful life event and seizure frequen cy.