Research Article

Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience

Volume: 18 Number: 5 September 24, 2024
TR EN

Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the demographic characteristics, spell semiology, and electroencephalographic characteristics of children with a complaint of staring spells and determine the factors that differentiate epileptic and non-epileptic etiology. Material and Methods: Fifty-six patients were included retrospectively between October 1, 2022, and December 1, 2023. The patients’ age, gender, co-morbidities, and other characteristics of the staring spells (duration, frequency, automatism, and presence of post-attack symptoms), access time to the pediatric neurologist, referring unit and access time to the final diagnosis were also recorded. Electroencephalography (EEG) was performed on all patients. Results: Fifty-six patients were divided into two according to epileptic and non-epileptic etiology. Thirty-three patients (59%) were diagnosed with non-epileptic staring spells, 15 (26.7%) were diagnosed with generalized epilepsy, and 8 (14.3%) were diagnosed with focal epilepsy. The non-epileptic group had a longer spell time and spell frequency, the presence of verbal stimulation response, and no post-attack symptoms (p<0.001). The access time to the pediatric neurologist was detected as 5.5 days, and the access time to the final diagnosis was 6.6 days. EEG was diagnostic in 100% of the epileptic group. Most of the patients were referred by pediatricians and family physicians (p<0.001). Conclusion: Identifying the cause of staring spells is crucial for further follow-up. In this study, we emphasized that history and routine EEG are important to determine the etiology. It has been observed that access time to pediatric neurologists and final diagnosis are shorter in our country compared to the literature. It can be concluded that pediatricians and family physicians have a high awareness of staring spells.

Keywords

Ethical Statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors did not recieve any funding fot this study and declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding:The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

  1. Park EG, Lee J, Lee BL, Lee M, Lee J. Paroxysmal nonepileptic events in pediatric patients. Epilepsy Behav 2015;48:83–7.
  2. Armstrong-Javors A. Non-epileptic Paroxysmal Events. In: Handbook of Pediatric Epilepsy. Cham: Springer International Publishing 2022;177–97.
  3. Berg AT, Shinnar S, Levy SR, Testa FM, Smith-Rapaport S, Beckerman B. Howwell can epilepsy syndromes be identified at diagnosis? A reassessment 2 years after initial diagnosis. Epilepsia 2000;41:1269–75.
  4. Khan A, Hussain N, Whitehouse WP. Evaluation of staring episodes in children. Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed 2012;97:202–7.
  5. Kim SH, Kim H, Lim BC, Chae CH, Kim KJ, Hwang YS. Paroxysmal nonepileptic events in pediatric patients confirmed by long-term video-EEG monitoring-Single tertiary center review of 143 patients. Epilepsy Behav 2012;24:336–40.
  6. Tatli B, Guler S. Non epileptic paroxysmal events in childhood. Turk Pediatri Ars 2017;52:59–65.
  7. Mclane HC, Berkowitz AL, Patenaude BN. Availability,accessibility, and affordability of neurodiagnostic tests in 37 countries. Neurology 2015;85:1614–22.
  8. Rosenow F, Wyllie E, Kotagal P, Mascha E, Wolgamuth BR, Hamer H. Staring spells in children: descriptive features distinguishing epileptic and nonepileptic events. J Pediatr 1998;133:660–3.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Clinical Sciences (Other)

Journal Section

Research Article

Early Pub Date

May 23, 2024

Publication Date

September 24, 2024

Submission Date

February 3, 2024

Acceptance Date

April 17, 2024

Published in Issue

Year 2024 Volume: 18 Number: 5

APA
Ozbudak, P., Menderes, D., Üstün, C., Öncel, E. P., & Yüksel, D. (2024). Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience. Türkiye Çocuk Hastalıkları Dergisi, 18(5), 289-294. https://doi.org/10.12956/tchd.1431243
AMA
1.Ozbudak P, Menderes D, Üstün C, Öncel EP, Yüksel D. Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience. Turkish J Pediatr Dis. 2024;18(5):289-294. doi:10.12956/tchd.1431243
Chicago
Ozbudak, Pınar, Deniz Menderes, Canan Üstün, Elif Perihan Öncel, and Deniz Yüksel. 2024. “Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience”. Türkiye Çocuk Hastalıkları Dergisi 18 (5): 289-94. https://doi.org/10.12956/tchd.1431243.
EndNote
Ozbudak P, Menderes D, Üstün C, Öncel EP, Yüksel D (September 1, 2024) Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience. Türkiye Çocuk Hastalıkları Dergisi 18 5 289–294.
IEEE
[1]P. Ozbudak, D. Menderes, C. Üstün, E. P. Öncel, and D. Yüksel, “Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience”, Turkish J Pediatr Dis, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 289–294, Sept. 2024, doi: 10.12956/tchd.1431243.
ISNAD
Ozbudak, Pınar - Menderes, Deniz - Üstün, Canan - Öncel, Elif Perihan - Yüksel, Deniz. “Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience”. Türkiye Çocuk Hastalıkları Dergisi 18/5 (September 1, 2024): 289-294. https://doi.org/10.12956/tchd.1431243.
JAMA
1.Ozbudak P, Menderes D, Üstün C, Öncel EP, Yüksel D. Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience. Turkish J Pediatr Dis. 2024;18:289–294.
MLA
Ozbudak, Pınar, et al. “Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience”. Türkiye Çocuk Hastalıkları Dergisi, vol. 18, no. 5, Sept. 2024, pp. 289-94, doi:10.12956/tchd.1431243.
Vancouver
1.Pınar Ozbudak, Deniz Menderes, Canan Üstün, Elif Perihan Öncel, Deniz Yüksel. Evaluation of Patients Complaining of Staring Spells: Single Center Experience. Turkish J Pediatr Dis. 2024 Sep. 1;18(5):289-94. doi:10.12956/tchd.1431243

Cited By


The publication language of Turkish Journal of Pediatric Disease is English.


Manuscripts submitted to the Turkish Journal of Pediatric Disease will go through a double-blind peer-review process. Each submission will be reviewed by at least two external, independent peer reviewers who are experts in the field, in order to ensure an unbiased evaluation process. The editorial board will invite an external and independent editor to manage the evaluation processes of manuscripts submitted by editors or by the editorial board members of the journal. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all submissions. Articles accepted for publication in the Turkish Journal of Pediatrics are put in the order of publication taking into account the acceptance dates. If the articles sent to the reviewers for evaluation are assessed as a senior for publication by the reviewers, the section editor and the editor considering all aspects (originality, high scientific quality and citation potential), it receives publication priority in addition to the articles assigned for the next issue.


The aim of the Turkish Journal of Pediatrics is to publish high-quality original research articles that will contribute to the international literature in the field of general pediatric health and diseases and its sub-branches. It also publishes editorial opinions, letters to the editor, reviews, case reports, book reviews, comments on previously published articles, meeting and conference proceedings, announcements, and biography. In addition to the field of child health and diseases, the journal also includes articles prepared in fields such as surgery, dentistry, public health, nutrition and dietetics, social services, human genetics, basic sciences, psychology, psychiatry, educational sciences, sociology and nursing, provided that they are related to this field. can be published.