Correlation between Early and Late Epileptic Fits During and After Stroke and Heart Diseases

– Stroke is the leading cause of mortality and the main cause of disability in adults in Europe. According to the American Heart Association, “the profile of apoplectic personality is determined by systolic blood pressure greater than 160 mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure higher than 95 mm Hg, family history of cardiovascular diseases, hypercholesterolemia, smoking, alcohol abuse and diabetes mellitus”. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the correlation between early and late epileptic seizures during and after stroke, and some heart diseases associated with hypertension. Ten-year records (January 1, 1989 till December 31, 1998) of the University Department of Neurology, Sarajevo University Clinical Center, were examined. There were 7001 stroke patients (53.6% with cerebral thrombosis, 17.35% with embolic etiology, 21.96% with intracerebral hemorrhage, and 1.17% with subarachnoid hemorrhage), with a 3.38% incidence of symptomatic epileptic seizures. The following cardiac diseases were considered relevant for the study purpose: absolute arrhythmia, subdecompensated heart state, well treated cardiac decompensation, angina pectoris, postmyocardial infarction state, and extrasystoles. Results revealed a statistically significant difference in the correlation with cardiac diseases between patients with early and late epileptic seizures. The patients with early epileptic fits had severe heart problems compared to those with late seizures. The former suffered from angina pectoris, heart decompensation and chronic subdecompensated state, yielding a ratio of 1.1 to 0.6. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups according to absolute arrhythmia. Study results suggested the patients with cerebrovascular disease and early epileptic fits to have a significantly higher rate of heart problems compared to stroke patients with late epileptic fits, in whom the morphological changes of the brain appeared neurophysiologically to act as an epileptogenic focus.