DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i04.046

Pages: 1346-1359

The patients who present to the emergency with seizures are usually in a state of altered sensorium or comatose and are not able to tell about the preceding events i.e. (aura progressing to seizure activity). Hence this factor leads on to difficulty in assessing the etiology of seizures. The aim was to study hospital based epidemiology of new onset seizures presenting to the Emergency Department, to evaluate causes underlying new onset seizures and to evaluate role of routine biochemistry in establishing etiology of new onset seizures in emergency setting. In this study, all the patients above 12 years of age presenting to the emergency department with onset of new seizures, within 72 hours prior to presentation, were included for a period of 1½ years. It was concluded that seizures are one of the common presenting complaints in emergency department. Overall, maximum numbers of patients (50%) were less than 39 years of age and elderly people > 65 years of age contributed to only 13.6% of total patients studied. Neurocysticercosis and CNS infections are important causes of new onset seizures in developing countries like ours. Routine laboratory investigations play an important role in establishing etiology of new onset seizures in emergency setting.