Factors associated with electroencephalographic and clinical remission of benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes.

Objective: Benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is strongly related to age, both to age at the time of seizure onset and to age at remission. However, the age of remission varies. The present study analyzed factors associated with remission of BECTS.

Methods: Sixty-nine children with BECTS were retrospectively analyzed. Thirty-eight (55.1%) were boys and 31 (44.9%) were girls. Mean age at seizure onset was 86.36 ± 24.55 months (range: 41-151 months).

Results: The mean age at the time of EEG improvement or remission was 138.31 ± 19.71 months. Of the 69 patients, 36 (52.2%) exhibited electroencephalography (EEG) improvement or remission before age 11.5 years, whereas 33 (47.8%) showed later improvement or remission. The two groups differed significantly in age at seizure onset. When patients were divided into groups using an age cutoff for last seizure of 9 years, the two groups differed significantly in age at seizure onset.

Conclusions: The most important predictor of early BECTS remission is age at seizure onset.