This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (25)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Epilepsy  • Genetics, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Ruth Ottman, PhD; Joseph H. Lee, DrPH; W. Allen Hauser, MD, MPH; Neil Risch, PhD

Arch Neurol. 1998;55:339-344.

Background  Whether the genetic influences are distinct for generalized and localization-related epilepsies or whether some susceptibility genes raise the risk for both types of epilepsy is uncertain.

Objective  To evaluate genetic heterogeneity in epilepsy.

Methods  We used Cox proportional hazards analysis to compute rate ratios (RRs) for generalized and localization-related idiopathic or cryptogenic epilepsy in the first-degree relatives of 1498 adult probands with idiopathic or cryptogenic epilepsy ascertained from voluntary organizations. The reference group comprised the first-degree relatives of 362 probands from the same study with postnatal symptomatic epilepsy in whom the genetic contributions appear to be minimal.

Results  In the parents and siblings, the risk for all idiopathic or cryptogenic epilepsy was greater if the proband's epilepsy was generalized than if it was localization-related (RR, 4.7 vs 2.4). However, in the parents and siblings of each group of probands, the increased risk was not restricted to the same type of epilepsy as in the proband. The results differed in offspring, with a greater risk for all types of epilepsy if the proband's epilepsy was localization-related than if it was generalized (RR, 4.2 vs 1.6) and a greater risk for localization-related epilepsy than for generalized epilepsy (RR, 7.8 vs 1.8) if the proband's epilepsy was localization-related.

Conclusions  These findings in parents and siblings suggest that some susceptibility genotypes raise the risk for both generalized and localization-related epilepsies but are more common in persons affected with generalized epilepsy. The different findings in offspring may reflect a different influence on susceptibility in that subgroup.

From the G. H. Sergievsky Center and School of Public Health (Epidemiology Division), Columbia University (Drs Ottman, Lee, and Hauser), the Epidemiology of Brain Disorders Research Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute (Dr Ottman), and the Department of Neurology, Columbia University (Dr Hauser), New York, NY; and Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif (Dr Risch). Dr Lee is now affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Postterm Delivery and Risk for Epilepsy in Childhood
Ehrenstein et al.
Pediatrics 2007;119:e554-e561.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Partial and generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus and a novel SCN1A mutation
Abou-Khalil et al.
Neurology 2001;57:2265-2272.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The clinical impact of epilepsy genetics
JOHNSON et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2001;70:428-430.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT