TY - JOUR T1 - Epileptiform activity and seizures in patients with COVID-19 JF - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry JO - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry SP - 565 LP - 566 DO - 10.1136/jnnp-2020-324337 VL - 92 IS - 5 AU - Fabiane Santos de Lima AU - Naoum Issa AU - Kaitlin Seibert AU - Jared Davis AU - Richard Wlodarski AU - Sara Klein AU - Faten El Ammar AU - Shasha Wu AU - Sandra Rose AU - Peter Warnke AU - James Tao Y1 - 2021/05/01 UR - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/92/5/565.abstract N2 - Acute symptomatic seizures have been reported in sporadic cases in patients with COVID-19.1 2 However, a recent large retrospective cohort study suggested that there was no increased risk of acute symptomatic seizures in these patients.3 As such, the association of seizures with COVID-19 has not been established. Admittedly, EEG studies have been significantly underused due to exposure concerns, and epileptiform activity has seldom been identified in this patient population. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of epileptiform activity and to assess the risk of seizures in patients with COVID-19.We retrospectively reviewed consecutive patients with COVID-19 from 1 March to 27 May 2020 in a single institution. Patients were included if they were (1) ≥18 years of age, (2) positive for nasal swab SARS-CoV-2 RNA qualitative PCR test and (3) underwent EEG monitoring. Patients with a prior active diagnosis of epilepsy were excluded. Patient data regarding demographics, medical history, neuroimaging, laboratory tests, complications, mortality, metabolic profiles and treatment were extracted from electronic medical records. COVID-19 disease severity was categorised according to WHO guideline into (1) non-severe: absence of viral pneumonia or hypoxia, or clinical signs of pneumonia but SpO2 of >90% on room air; (2) severe: clinical pneumonia, respiratory rate of >30 and SpO2 of <90% on room air; (3) critical: sepsis with organ dysfunction or requiring mechanical ventilation.EEG studies were performed using standard international 10–20 … ER -