Chen W, et al. – The incidence and risk factors, including the type of seizures for post–traumatic epilepsy (PTE) after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) were investigated in this study. The researchers demonstrated that the PTE risk was 2.55 times greater for patients aged >34 years at the time of injury than for those aged ≤34 years. Moreover, significant risk factors for the development of PTE were simple partial seizures, surgical treatment, and the onset of seizures occurring within 6 months after injury.

• The researchers perfomed a retrospective follow-up study of patients discharged from Liaocheng People’s Hospital between March 2011 and June 2015 with a diagnosis of post-traumatic seizures.
• By using Kaplan–Meier curves and the Cox model, they evaluated risk factors for PTE in 68 inpatients.

• For 68 patients, complete clinical information was available.
• The researchers diagnosed 54 cases (79.4%) as presenting with PTE, occurring from 10 days to 179 months after severe TBI.
• Within the first 6 months after the trauma, 19 out of 54 cases (35.2%) had been defined as PTE, 17 cases (31.5%) within 7-12 months, 8 cases (14.8%) within 13-24 months, 2 cases (3.7%) within 25-36 months, and 8 cases (14.8%) within 37-179 months after the TBI.
• The Kaplan–Meier curves revealed that simple partial seizures, surgical treatment, and the onset of seizures occurring within 6 months after injury were correlated with PTE.