Objective

We investigated whether the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the clinical characteristics of patients with functional seizure (FS) (at the time of diagnosis).

Methods

In a retrospective study of a prospectively developed and maintained database, all patients diagnosed with FS before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were studied at the outpatient epilepsy clinic at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, from December 2008 until February 2021.

Results

Three hundred and eighty-eight patients were studied. Three hundred and sixty-four patients (94%) were diagnosed before and 24 persons (6%) during the pandemic. Patients diagnosed during the COVID-19 pandemic less frequently had generalized motor seizures [odds ratio (OR): 0.30, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.12–0.77; p = 0.012] and had higher seizure frequencies (OR: 1.00, 95% CI: 1.00–1.01; p = 0.044). Functional seizures were inversely associated with the education level as a trend during the COVID-19 pandemic (OR: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.13–1.01; p = 0.052).

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the characteristics of patients with FS (at the time of diagnosis). Larger and multi-center studies are needed to investigate the links and associations between the COVID-19 pandemic and characteristics of FS.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行对功能性（心因性）癫痫发作特征的影响

客观的

我们调查了 COVID-19 大流行是否影响了功能性癫痫发作 (FS) 患者的临床特征（在诊断时）。

方法

在对前瞻性开发和维护的数据库进行的一项回顾性研究中，从 2008 年 12 月到 2021 年 2 月，在伊朗设拉子设拉子医科大学癫痫门诊对所有在 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间诊断为 FS 的患者进行了研究。

结果

研究了三百八十八名患者。大流行前确诊患者 364 人（94%），大流行期间确诊患者 24 人（6%）。在 COVID-19 大流行期间诊断出的患者出现全身性运动性癫痫发作的频率较低 [比值比 (OR)：0.30，95% 置信区间 (CI)：0.12–0.77；p  = 0.012] 并且癫痫发作频率更高（OR：1.00，95% CI：1.00–1.01；p  = 0.044）。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，功能性癫痫发作与教育水平呈负相关（OR：0.36，95% CI：0.13–1.01；p  = 0.052）。

结论

COVID-19 大流行影响了 FS 患者的特征（在诊断时）。需要更大规模和多中心的研究来调查 COVID-19 大流行与 FS 特征之间的联系和关联。