Schwere einer Epilepsie

For children with cerebral palsy (CP), epilepsy is a significant comorbidity; it affects about one third of this patient group and correlates with the severity of the disability. As CP is a predominantly lesional brain disorder, the assumption can be made that epilepsy is symptomatic in most cases and the severity of brain lesion is linked to epilepsy. Brain malformations are also more often associated with epilepsy. For a population-based analysis of the role of lesion type and topography regarding the occurrence and severity of epilepsy, a detailed definition is necessary in addition to the standardized recording of neuroimaging findings. The Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe (SCPE) agrees on a definition based on age at onset of epilepsy as an indication of severity. For registers relying mainly on medical records, this provides a simple, reliable, and thus also comprehensive approach.