Advanced Alzheimer's disease is a risk factor for late-onset seizures
M. F. Romanelli, J. C. Morris, K. Ashkin and L. A. Coben
Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Mo 63110.
To determine the role of Alzheimer's disease as a causative factor for
late-onset epilepsy, 44 subjects with mild senile dementia of the Alzheimer
type and 58 healthy control subjects were examined over a 90-month period
for the development of focal or generalized seizure activity (excluding
myoclonus). At entry, all subjects were free of prior seizures and other
neurologic, medical, and psychiatric disorders with the potential to impair
cognition. Although no control subject developed seizures during the study
period, 7 subjects with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type had at least
one documented seizure. All 7 subjects had progressed to the severe stage
of dementia by the time of the first seizure. Seizures were generalized
tonic-clonic in type and were unassociated with clinical or (in 3 subjects)
neuropathologic evidence for epileptogenic factors other than Alzheimer's
disease. We conclude that advanced Alzheimer's disease alone may be an
important risk factor for new-onset seizures in older adults.
