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The risks of seizure disorders among relatives of patients with childhood onset epilepsy

University of Texas, School of Public Health (Dr. Annegers), Houston, TX, Columbia University (Dr. Hauser), New York, NY, the University of Minnesota (Dr. Anderson), Minneapolis, MN, and the Section of Medical Research Statistics (Dr. Kurland), Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

The risk of seizure disorders in relatives of patients with childhood-onset epilepsy was evaluated by a cohort study of the other decendants of parents of probands with epilepsy. The probands comprised 196 cases of idiopathic epilepsy and 60 individuals with isolated idiopathic seizures diagnosed among residents of Rochester, Minnesota, from 1935 to 1974. The risk of epilepsy through age 20 among the siblings and children of probands was 4.1%, three times the rate in the general Rochester population. The risk of any type of seizure (including isolated seizures, febrile convulsions, or seizures due to an acute cerebral insult) through age 20 was 11% in siblings and 13.1% in children of probands. The risks of seizure disorders among nieces and nephews of probands were not greater than the general population rates.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Annegers, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, P.O. Box 20186, Houston, TX 77025.

This investigation was supported in part by Research Grant No. 52327 from the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service.

Accepted for publication July 2, 1981.

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