Sex differences in demographic and clinical characteristics of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures: A retrospective multicenter international study. .

ASADI-POOYA, MYERS L, VALENTE K, DAZA RESTREPO A, D`ALESSIO L, SAWCHUK T, HOMAYOUN M, BAHRAMI Z, ALESSI R, ARONI PAYTAN A, KOCHEN S, BUCHHALTER J, TAHA F, LAZAR LM, PICK S, NICHOLSON T.

Dubai

Congreso; XXIV World Congress of Neurology; 2019

PurposeSex-related differences have been reported in patients withneurological and psychiatric disorders. It is also plausible to assumethat there might be differences between females and males withpsychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES).MethodsIn this retrospective study, we investigated patients with PNES,who were admitted to the epilepsy monitoring units at centers inIran, the, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela. Age, sex, age atseizure onset, seizure semiology, factors potentially predisposing toPNES, and video-electroencephalography recording of all patientswere registered routinely.ResultsFour hundred and fifty-one patients had PNES-only and wereeligible for inclusion; 305 patients (67.6%) were females. We executeda logistic regression analysis, evaluating significant variables inunivariate analyses (i.e., age, age at onset, aura, presence of historicalsexual or physical abuse, and family dysfunction). The only variablesretaining significance were historical sexual abuse (p=0.005) andpresence of aura (p=0.01); physical abuse was borderline significant(p=0.05) (all three more prevalent among females).ConclusionSimilarities between females and males outweigh the differenceswith regard to the demographic and clinical characteristics of PNES.However, females more often report historical sexual (and potentiallyphysical) abuse relative to males. While social, psychologicaland genetic factors may interact with early lifetime adverseexperiences in the inception of PNES, the link is not clear and shouldbe investigated in future studies.